‘The ultimate underdog story’: How Girona became the unlikeliest title challenger in La Liga

Fans of Spanish football will be accustomed to seeing Real Madrid and a certain Catalan club battle it out at the top of La Liga – only this season that team from northeastern Spain isn’t Barcelona.

Fans of Spanish football will be accustomed to seeing Real Madrid and a certain Catalan club battle it out at the top of La Liga – only this season that team from northeastern Spain isn’t Barcelona. It is Girona, playing in only its fourth top-flight season in La Liga, that has improbably become Real’s closest title challenger midway through January, repeatedly upsetting the odds to surge up the standings and sit top of the table, one point ahead of Los Blancos – though Madrid has a game in hand. Founded in 1930, Girona plays its football at the modest 14,000-capacity Estadi Montilivi on the outskirts of a city that has a population of just 100,000. For the majority of its history, Girona has competed in the third tier of Spanish football and below, only returning to the second division in 2008 after a 49-year absence. Girona was previously promoted to La Liga in 2017, spending only two seasons in Spain’s top flight before being relegated. This time, however, the team looks like it is here to stay. The Blanquivermells’ early success this season has naturally prompted comparisons to Leicester City’s remarkable Premier League-winning season and Spanish football expert Semra Hunter believes those comparisons are merited.