If there is one player who symbolises Girona’s modern history, it is Cristhian Stuani. The Uruguayan striker signed for the red-and-white club in the summer of 2017, in the club’s first season in the First Division. After relegation, he endured the three seasons that the team was in the Second Division – from 2019-2020 to 2021-2022 – where he managed to be top scorer twice, and on his return to La Liga he was instrumental from the bench – nine goals – in the team’s qualification for the Champions League a few months ago. On March 31, after Stuani scored the winning goal against Betis in added time, Míchel, the coach, made him a promise: “He will wear the captain’s armband on the day of Girona’s debut in Europe.” Tonight, in the cruel defeat against PSG at the Parc des Princes in Paris, the Vallecano coach kept his word. The Uruguayan, at 37 years old, was a starter, wore the armband and became the second oldest outfield player to make his Champions League debut with a club that only two years ago was in Second Division and that in the 2006-2007 season was still playing in Third Division.
The starting position was a sort of recognition and reward for the career of Stuani, an idol of Girona, a club that has evolved over the years under the guidance of the City Football Group – in 2017 it acquired 47% of the ownership – and Míchel, the coach who promoted the white-and-reds from the Second Division in 2022 and who last May qualified them for the Champions League.
The striker made a sacrifice of himself from run to run in the first part of the match. While Luis Enrique’s PSG monopolised possession and smothered Girona with pressure, Stuani was tasked with forming the most advanced line of the 4-4-2 that Míchel’s men used in defence with Van de Beek. He did not touch the ball for the first time until the 23rd minute. It was when he stole the ball from Dembélé almost at the height of the left corner of the Girona area. The Uruguayan came from behind, without the French winger seeing him, and threw himself to the ground to snatch the ball from him and pass it to a teammate. An instant later, he received the ball again and was brought down by Zaire-Emery for a foul.
These were his first contributions to Girona’s formidable debut in the Champions League, which ended in the most bitter way, with a blunder in the 90th minute by Gazzaniga, the goalkeeper who had kept the white-and-reds going with several fantastic saves. “The game slipped away from us at the end, but we have to try to take all the good things the team has done, which has been a lot. I am very proud of how my teammates have behaved, of how we have stood up and of this debut in the Champions League, which we are leaving empty-handed but with great emotions,” Stuani told Movistar+ after the match.
In one of the toughest stadiums in Europe, against an opponent who have won all five of their games this season, Míchel’s men had several periods of control in which they boxed PSG in. The Catalan side’s clearest chance came precisely from the Uruguayan at the start of the second half. The striker headed in a Miguel Gutiérrez cross, but Safonov made a good save to deflect his chipped shot.
Just a few minutes later, Míchel decided to give Portu a chance and take off Stuani, Girona’s all-time top scorer with 133 goals, but above all a symbol of the team and the city, the striker loved by everyone, the footballer who rejected offers from Saudi Arabia and other European teams and preferred to stay with the team in the Second Division and do his part to get it out of the hole.
Stuani is a very important player for Míchel, but he has already assumed his role as a substitute in the second half for two seasons. In 2022-2023, it was Taty Castellanos who took over his role, and last season that role was occupied by Dovbyk, the top scorer in the League. But today, in the Champions League debut, the player who symbolises the modern history of Girona, who wants to retire from professional football as a red-and-white, had a role from the start, a reward for a fabulous career at Montilivi: “For me it was a dream match. I have been fighting for a long time to have an opportunity like this, and I have achieved it with the most important club of my career. So, the pride is double, and also the satisfaction of having been able to get there and not only play, but compete. I am left with an impressive experience, which perhaps came late, but it came.”
