Girona FC: What does the future hold for last season’s fairytale club?

After last season’s fairytale season, Spanish giants Girona have to get used to life in the Champions League.

Climbing to the highest heights of football challenges the senses and Girona’s sure-footedness at this level is already being put to the test.

Ivan Quiros, co-founder of the official Girona supporters club Penya Jandrista GFC, first attended games at the Estadi Montilivi in ​​the late 1980s when the team played in the Spanish third division. He told BBC Sport that qualifying to face Europe’s elite was “an unattainable and impossible dream that has become a reality”.

The Catalan club only gained promotion to the second division in 2008 after a 49-year absence from professional football, but in 2017 they achieved promotion to the Spanish top flight for the first time.

Last season they finished third in La Liga, just four points behind second-placed Barcelona. They scored 85 goals, just two fewer than champions Real Madrid.

Catalan journalist Xevi Masachs explained that it was now commonplace to see “kids wearing Girona jerseys” – something that would have been “unbelievable” 15 years ago, when basketball was the city’s main sport and most football fans supported neighbors Barcelona were.

Due to UEFA rules, the Girona stadium can only hold around 9,600 spectators in the Champions League. Even such a modest crowd is a far cry from the hundreds of fans in attendance at the turn of the century.

Jan Nadal Colome, 19, who has had a season ticket since 2012, remembers how fans could “circle the whole stadium” at his first games.

“We could switch to the other goal if they attack or there is a penalty,” he said.

Girona’s third Champions League game will take place on Wednesday at the Montilivi Stadium – against Slovakian club Slovan Bratislava. It’s safe to say this is pretty important.

Girona suffered a 1-0 defeat in their opening game against Paris St-Germain, caused by an own goal in the 90th minute. This was followed by a 3-2 home defeat against Feyenoord, in which Girona missed a penalty and scored two more own goals, equaling Fenerbahce’s record for most own goals in a single Champions League season.

After ten La Liga games, coach Michel’s team is in 12th place in the table.

Miquel Agut Riera, who commentates on Girona’s games, said qualification for the Champions League came “too quickly”.