Girona, against Tenerife and the curse of the 'playoffs' for promotion to the First Division

Stuani, at the moment of scoring the second goal against Eibar in the semifinals.Juan Herrero (EFE)

Girona is a team with callus in the

for promotion to the First Division, also a club that will fight again against the jinx or the curse that grips it in these qualifiers.

It turns out that since the 2010-2011 season, when the knockout system was applied with four teams -from third to sixth in the final Second Division table-, they have participated in half the occasions (six out of twelve if this one is counted) and has never managed to climb the rung.

Now, against Tenerife, they have the last revalidation after eliminating Eibar in the semifinals.

This Saturday it is played in Montilivi (9:00 p.m., Movistar LaLiga) and on Sunday, June 19, at the Heliodoro Rodríguez López.

“I don't know if this is the good year or not”, reflects Míchel, coach of Girona;

“But what is certain is that we are going to play a new final and we have a 50% chance”.

It happens that until now the statistics have always gone against the Catalan team, which, however, did manage to celebrate promotion in 2017, although then it did so as second classified in the SmartBank League and accessed directly.

Something that cost him horrors in the

qualifiers , as evidenced in the last two editions, when he also stepped on the final and the dream of returning to the First Division vanished.

Last year Rayo beat him and two years ago the executioner was Elche.

They are not the only finals that Girona has lost, as the same thing happened in 2016 (Osasuna beat it) and in 2013 (Almería).

And in 2015 the hit was double because first he was left with the desire to fall on the last league day against Lugo -it deprived him of direct promotion- and then in the semifinals of the qualifiers, because he beat Zaragoza 0-3 in the first leg and lost 1-4 in the second leg.

Girona also clings to other figures to trust in returning to the First Division, beyond the choral game and Stuani's definitions in the rival area.

Thus, on this occasion, Míchel's team does not play the second leg in Montilivi as has always happened, in the same way that it qualified for the playoffs finishing sixth in the table, a record that was missing because it had finished the league as third (2014- 2015), fourth (2012-2013 and 2015-2016) and fifth (2019-2020 and 2020-2021).

A week ago, Borja García as soon as the match began and Stuani defeated Eibar in extra time -they needed to win by two goals- and sealed the safe-conduct for a new final.

“What has been done up to now is worthless”, resolves Míchel.

Nor what a story says so far jinxed.

Hanging the 'no tickets' in the Heliodoro

The island of Tenerife is excited about the possible return of the team to the First Division and this has been demonstrated this Friday morning, since in just a quarter of an hour all the tickets on sale have been sold out.

So the fan has not been slow to pull picaresque and incur in illegality, because resale on the Internet is already the order of the day;

In various forums, pens or packs of chewing gum are sold with tickets for the duel

.

And the prices have already gone from 180 to almost 600 euros.

"We regret, reject and condemn the fraudulent practices of some unscrupulous people in relation to Tenerife-Girona tickets, while making ourselves available to the police authorities to collaborate in everything they need."

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