One former Tottenham Hotspur player has been part of a remarkable season so far for a team in the Spanish top flight
Paulo Gazzaniga might not have become Tottenham’s main goalkeeper but he is enjoying life on top of La Liga right now.
The former Spurs stopper is the number one – albeit wearing number 13 – for Girona, who have swept to the summit of the Spanish top flight with just one defeat in their first 13 matches in the competition. The team from northern Catalonia has enjoyed a remarkable rise in recent seasons since gaining promotion back to La Liga through the play-offs in 2022 after finishing sixth in Segunda Division.
If anyone thought they might struggle back among the big boys last season they would be proved very much wrong as Girona ended the campaign in 10th place, just four points off European qualification. That appears to have just been the warm-up act though as Girona currently sit at the top of La Liga and have scored more than any of their expensively-assembled rivals with 31 goals in those 13 matches so far.
Striker Artem Dovbyk has provided seven goals and five assists in those games with the rest of the goals shared out among the team, which is helmed by Michel, who is getting plenty of attention for his work with the side.
At the back of the team, trying to keep out the opposition is Gazzaniga. The Argentinean goalkeeper left Tottenham after making 37 appearances across four years, unable to oust Hugo Lloris from the number one role at the north London club.
He departed in 2021 on a free transfer and joined Fulham, where he played 15 times for that London side before making the loan move, later turned permanent, to Girona.
Gazzaniga, who has one international cap for Argentina, has been the main man between the sticks for the Spanish side in the club’s two recent seasons back in La Liga and this campaign has played every single minute in the competition for the table-toppers, conceding 16 goals during the campaign so far.
The only defeat Girona have had thus far in the league has been at the hands of Real Madrid, who beat them 3-0 in September with England star Jude Bellingham scoring the killer third goal in the second half.
Girona return from the international break with a home game against Valencia and then their next match in La Liga takes them to their fellow Catalonians Barcelona for the first time this season.
