The king confirms the ageless goal of Cristhian Stuani his status as the Prince of Girona

Photo: David Ramos/Getty Images

Cristhian Stuani said it wasn’t him, old school No. 9 doing what No.9 always does, but nobody cared, not even the referee. He could have had the goal, he deserved it: a hundred times more, every minute of every day, the best days of his life. They just wanted the opportunity to share it with him, to keep it: their captain, their idol, the 37-year-old who had only been on the pitch for 13 minutes, gave his team a rescue mission about to be. won for the second time in the most extraordinary season they have ever seen, and although they had only gone and scored twice: first in the 82nd minute and now with only two minutes left to take them to the top. They: Girona Futbol Club, leaders of La Liga, for goodness sake.

So there they were, everyone in Montilivi going crazy, Stuani racing to the corner and everyone else running after him, including their manager, Michel, running down the wing again as he was in 2012. What does it matter if Uruguay was not really? second score? What was the matter if, far from claiming it in the way he was supposed to, greedily grabbing everything he could get, he publicly insisted that it did not belong to him, that the other Cristhian defender, Valencia Mosquera, accidentally kicked the ball away? It really was their goal – he was aware of it right now, right there when they needed it – and officially their goal too.

La Liga gave it to him, with no dubious goalscoring panel to spoil it again. The referee, Javier Iglesias Villanueva, also gave it to him, his report, deposited with the federation, a sacred, incomprehensible and indisputable writ, without appeal, without arguments: Cristhian Ricardo Stuani (81), Cristhian Ricardo Stuani (88). And, as for the fans, they’d give anything for him, just happy that he’s still here, happy that the man who deserves it more than anyone else gets to spend this absurd, unexpected experience with them. This was his 121st goal for Girona and even if it wasn’t, it’s still more than anyone else, ever. “Stuani,” says Michel, “is the most important player in the club’s history.”

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Sometimes the cliches are true: when Stuani was little, growing up in the small town of Tala, population 5,000, he broke a window playing football at home. He was never the fastest and he wasn’t the most technically gifted either, but he understood. He read the game better than anyone, he learned how to hide, slipping into those places where the defenders could not see him, he taught himself to head and finish; how to be a teammate too, no effort or word was wasted.

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When he arrived at recently promoted Girona, Stuani was already 31, having scored 7, 6 and 12 in the previous three years at Espanyol, and might not be around for much longer. He had won the league with Danubio in Uruguay, but he was not about to do that again. In his first season at Reggina in Italy, he did not score; in a second he was relegated. The same thing would happen at Racing Santander. At Middlesbrough, he went up, scoring 11 times along the way but then back down again. Then he scored Girona’s first ever goal in primera, followed by another 20. So, however, did relegation, in his second season. It was the fourth time he fell.

That’s why they love him so. “Not Suárez, not Cavani, we have Stuani,” ran the chant, and some fans are calling for him to have a statue at Montilivi. Top scorer two years in a row, 40 league goals spread over two seasons, scored more than 40% of their goals and scored or assisted more than half of them. If no one deserved to play in the second division again, it was him; if no one had to, he was too. Too good to go down, clubs came to give him a chance to avoid relegation. Barcelona was one of them, just 99km down the road.

But after looking for a career, Stuani found his place, a home in Girona and at Girona. Almost literally: he lives next to the golf course where they train every day. There was gratitude, the determination to put it right, and on the last day of the window, he signed a new contract. It was a good one of course – Girona later admitted they could not afford to pay him for more than one season in segunda, which is why he renegotiated it, spreading his salary over two additional years – but this was more. It was a promise to keep.

As it turned out, it took a little longer than anyone expected. That year, Stuani scored 29 times but still they did not come back up. Two more against Almeria in the semi-final of the play-off that took them to the final with 31, not advancing against Elche. “The hours go by and I still can’t find an explanation,” he said afterwards. “I can only rise again, as I have done all my life. Football hit us hard but I’m sure it will pay us back one day.” The following season, he scored 10, despite suffering an injury; again, Girona lost in the play-off final, against Rayo. The following year, he scored 22 when he reached another final. Finally, the day had come: Stuani scored, Girona was back, fulfilled.

Not that he was walking away, job done. It was 35, but it wasn’t finished, not just kept around because they feel it’s due to them or because there’s nowhere else to go. Not then, not even now. This summer Club Abha came from the Arabian side with an offer, in the words of La Razon, “he could not refuse” but he refused. Stuani, says Michel, is in charge of the dressing room, which may sound like a platitude but it is not. That’s not what he did. “What could be more beautiful than to retire in the place where you have built your history and where people have shown you so much affection?” he said.

Even now, it represents more than a third of all the goals Girona have ever scored primera. Last season there were nine league goals and Saturday’s (one or) two was the fifth (fourth or) of the season in just 561 minutes. Only Artem Dovbyk has scored more; no one has a better ratio. More importantly, they also completed an excellent half hour, driven in particular by Yan Couto’s subs, who provided both goals, and yet another. Seventeen points won by Girona after being behind, unstoppable as the momentum grew, the captain taking them back to the top, joint with Madrid and ahead of the Barcelona team failed with him playing in the second division.

Las Palmas 2-0 Getafe, Osasuna 1-1 Real Sociedad, Real Madrid 2-0 Granada, Athletic Bilbao 4-0 Rayo Vallecano, Girona 2-1 Valencia, Barcelona 1-0 Atlético Madrid, Sevilla 1-1 Villarreal, Almería 0 -0 Real Betis, Real Mallorca 0-0 Alavés

Looking back on his career in an interview once, Stuani said: “I was never lucky enough to play in a team that was fighting to be champions.” That was in 2018. Now, five years, a fourth relegation and many, many goals later, some he got and one they gave him, it’s really happening.

“This is a dream,” he said.

Talking point

“It was a lot of fun,” said João Félix, when he finally got around to scoring the goal against his former team – which is also his current team. Hitting the ball beautifully past Jan Oblak, he jumped onto the advertising board behind the goal and stood, arms wide in front of the fans. “I do not know [what I was thinking]; I think it was a relief after everything that was said about me, about me as a person, about my professionalism,” he said. The whole week it was about him; every game it was also, a small hint of how bad things have become in Madrid, and it was a victory. When he went back towards the center, the hint of a kiss was blown by the Atlético supporters. “I’m happy for him,” said Xavi. “João Feliz,” read one headline. João Shona, in other words.

He wasn’t the only one. This was huge for Barcelona, ​​perhaps a glimpse of what could have been and a second crucial win in a row, after they beat Porto in midweek. It wasn’t all about João Félix either: Iñaki Peña made two great saves, including one from Memphis Depay’s brilliant free-kick that he pushed onto the bar and another in the last minute that Ángel Correa should have played on to achieve, as Atlético improved in the second half. Raphinha was at the heart of their good start. Pedri grew. And Frenkie de Jong was excellent.

And yet, well, it was all about João, point proven if not possible the point: Diego Simeone and Antoine Griezmann had spoken about consistency as the key, and the coach insisted that “anyone can have a good game”. This time, it was João who did, feeling a vendetta about everything. He had also done a pretty good job of burning his bridges with the club he owns – that’s the way he wanted it, later saying that Barcelona will “God willing”, who can’t really afford to buy him, “try” to keep it.

“I don’t read or hear what people say,” he said later, a bit like someone who has read and heard what people have to say, especially because it’s inevitable. “Every week they talk about me, good or bad. People who aren’t in my life don’t really know what happened before, so sometimes what they say is unfair – but it’s normal for a player to get criticism that isn’t fair. We are here to play, to improve, and to [make it so] one day the shepherds become followers.”