In the build-up to Girona’s La Liga clash with Real Madrid this weekend, the father of visiting goalkeeper Paulo Gazzaniga insisted that this was no foregone conclusion.
“Nothing is impossible,” he told Diario ARA. “Everyone has two hands and two feet. Why can’t you win? Also, the team plays well. (Girona are) only lacking results.”
In the end, Girona would not claim a famous victory over Carlo Ancelotti’s European champions. But if you offered whte-and-red supporters a hard-fought 1-1 draw at the Santiago Bernabeu – a point valiantly and deservedly secured by a late Cristhian Stuani penalty – most would have chewed your arm off at the elbow.
Stuani’s 80th minute spot-kick cancelled out Vinicius Jr’s opener; lifting Girona above struggling Sevilla and out of the drop zone. But if a former Middlesbrough striker made the difference at one end, then it was another one-time Premier League benchwarmer who laid the foundations at the other.
Former Tottenham and Fulham goalkeeper Paulo Gazzaniga shining in La Liga
Fulham loanee and former Tottenham Hotspur goalkeeper Gazzaniga made only his second Girona appearance against Real Madrid at the weekend. But he made sure to mark it with one of the finest performances of his footballing career. Gazzaniga made an outstanding reflex stop from point-blank range to keep Marco Asensio from doubling Los Blancos’ lead mere moments before Stuani’s equaliser.
He kept arguably his best save for last, however; showcasing outstanding reactions as he scrambled away a Rodrygo Goes effort at the death.
“When you come here, your goalkeeper has to have a great game,” Girona’s former Southampton enforcer Oriol Romeu told Movistar at full-time, not without justification.
“Brilliant,” adds former Spurs forward Terry Gibson on El Tel and Jon’s La Liga Weekly podcast. “A fantastic save.”
Released by Tottenham in the summer of 2021 before falling behind Marek Rodak during a difficult start to life at Fulham, Gazzaniga needed a game like this.
Only time will tell whether those heroics against the greatest team in Europe are a merely false dawn, or the start of something special; both for Gazzaniga and Girona.
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