On Wednesday evening, there was UEFA Champions League action for Bryan Gil and Girona, as they travelled to Central Europe to face Sturm Graz of Austria.
Coming into the game, Gil was full of confidence, having scored his first goal for the Spain national team last week, before scoring and providing a further two assists in Girona’s demolishing of Alejo Veliz’ RCD Espanyol side in La Liga last weekend.
For this one, Gil was once again named in the starting XI by manager Michel, who deployed the Spurs loanee on the left hand side of his 4231 set up.
Midway through the first half, with the score at 0-0, Gil jinked past his man, before putting in a superb low cross from the left hand side, begging to be put away. The ball fell to Ivan Martin, who with the goal at his mercy, somehow managed to lift the ball over the bar, depriving Gil of an assist and Girona of a crucial goal.
The shot was given as a 0.98xG chance. For context, Brennan Johnson’s goal at the Etihad on Saturday, where he slid in from around half a yard out – went down as a 0.97 xG chance. That’s how bad this miss really was.
As is always the case, Girona would be made to pay. Their Austrian counterparts would take the lead after 58 minutes, which ended up being the only goal of the game, and enough to give them the win – their first points of the competition. Truly an incredibly frustrating evening for Gil and his team mates, who will have seen this as a huge opportunity to get towards the play-off spots for the round of 16 of the competition.
This defeat leaves Girona in 30th place in the league phase, with three points from five games – three points off the final play-off spot.
In terms of Gil himself, he was the highest rated player on the team, and played 90 minutes. The 24-year old recorded; 85 touches, three chances created, one big (absolutely massive) chance created, 7/10 successful dribble attempts, 9/17 ground duels won, 1/1 aerial duels won, one foul drawn, and one tackle. However, he was booked – and is therefore suspended for their home game against Liverpool on match day six.
Still, an encouraging performance nonetheless, from a player who has had a really good week or so. Next up for Gil and Girona is a return to La Liga action, as they face Villarreal on Sunday, with a 13:00 GMT kick off for that one.
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Publish date : 2024-11-27 18:11:00
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