Girona FC - Athletic Club

We thought we had seen it all in football, but what happened to Athletic Club in Girona, where they lost a 2-1 game that they played to win, will remain in the memory for many years to come. The lions saw Gazzaniga save three penalties, from Berenguer, Iñaki Williams and Ander Herrera. The last straw came in stoppage time, in the 98th minute, when Stuani scored a penalty which Padilla just grazed with his fingers.

The match left a very hard blow to the morale of the lions, who go into the break with a look of disbelief on their faces. Nevertheless, the feeling is that the team took another step forward in their game, especially in the first half, in which they went into the break with a draw when they could have gone in 1-3 up. They kept adding chances, one from Guruzeta, another from Berenguer... Until the VAR alerted the referee in the 25th minute that there was a clear penalty on Alex after a foul of Arnau. Berenguer, who had not taken a spot-kick since the Copa final, came up against the inspired home goalkeeper.

Far from sinking, Athletic picked themselves up and began to play delightfully. Herrera made Gazzaniga look good again, Guruzeta hit a beautiful volley wide... Padilla pulled off a great save from Danjuma and the lions conceded the 1-0 from a cross-shot by Asprilla, which Miguel Gutiérrez converted into a goal without touching the ball by making a feint that delayed Padilla's save. Second blow.

Athletic got back on their feet with a great play between Berenguer and Sancet, who scored with class before injuring his hamstring. Third misfortune.

Los Leones had the chance to take the lead again with another VAR penalty from Danjuma on Iñaki Williams, who took the responsibility and also failed to beat the Girona keeper. A retake was ordered for being too early in the shot and Ander Herrera also missed. Fourth and fifth time lucky.

With all this on top of them, Girona were emboldened by their home crowd and they kept adding to their chances, all of which were blocked by a lively Padilla. In between, there was a chance for De Marcos after a great move by Yuri. And then came the penalty for a grab by Paredes on Stuani, which was also pointed out by the VAR. The Uruguayan did not miss and the lions, even after their umpteenth misfortune, had a chance from Unai Gómez to equalise. Athletic go into the break with a good feeling and a bad body. Penalties, which in April gave us the Copa title, made us lose in Girona.