Two Catalunyan clubs will clash in Segunda next Saturday as Girona hosts Espanyol. The teams have similar objectives in Segunda and while Espanyol is definitely on target with those – topping the table at the moment with 45 points – Girona will definitely not want to repeat last season‘s loss against eventual promotees Elche in the playoff finals.
Girona sits 8th in the league with the top 6 on the horizon but strong performances in Copa del Rey (beating Lugo and La Liga side Cádiz to advance to the next round) might strengthen their belief that they can do better than last season. Due to the big gap in quality between top and bottom teams in Segunda, gaining wins against your similarly ranked opponents can make a world of difference for those sides, and for all intents and purposes, those two teams are categorized as among the strongest ones. One particular highlight about Girona this season, and which might have attributed to them somewhat underperforming, is their total lack of discipline.
Espanyol doesn‘t often have to rely on dirty tactics due to the aforementioned gap in quality BUT in a game where the opponents give them a fight, Espanyol fights back. Regular followers of TeamCBK will recognize the terms Segunda and booking points like two peas in a pod, but it‘s fair to say that a clash like this is a booking bettors‘ dream.
Girona has been featured in our bets before and they are for a good reason – they lose their heads quite easily in the larger-occasion-type-of matches. Having amassed 25 yellow cards and six red cards at home this season (out of 45 yellows and 12 reds) the potential for them to get hard is easy to see at first glance. But, bearing in mind the aforementioned quality gap in the league, we can take a look at how Girona fares in the other bigger matches in the league:
- 14th November against Mallorca, Girona racked up 4 yellow cards and two red cards, while their opponents picked up three in a dirty game where Mallorca ran out the eventual winners.
- Girona hosted Málaga ten days later where, again, they lost 0-1. Both sides picked up bookings in both halves in a game that was really tight and Malaga defended their lead well. 2-3 in terms of yellow cards.
- 14th of December saw Rayo Vallecano pay them a visit and the game quickly turned ugly. Equal division of cards saw referee Muñiz card each side three times, and in both halves as well. Game finished 0-0 where, on so many occasions, Rayo could have run out the eventual winners.
If we were to look at how they fare against the big teams away from home, we can take a gander at Sporting Gijon (2-2 on yellows with a red each, Girona getting a booking both halves), Leganes (5-5 on yellow cards, both sides getting booked each half), Almería (where Girona got three red cards and both sides got in the referees book in both halves) and Tenerife (2 yellows each, one red each and booking both halves). Last but not least, let‘s look at the reverse fixture where the hosts picked up four yellows and their opponents two, albeit all in the second half of the game.
When Espanyol were relegated from La Liga last season, it became obvious that they did not want to stay in the league for long. Having a stalwart in Diego Lopez in goal and on-fire attacking linkup in Adrian Embarba and Raúl de Tomás, and the latter has scored more than anyone in the league, an invaluable feature for a league not exacly renowned for goals. Again, Espanyol might not see the most bookings on average, but let‘s look at how they fare in terms of bookings against the stronger sides, shall we?
- 18th of October. After a relative underperformance in terms of cards, Espanyol visits Rayo Vallecano and gets booked after six minutes of play in a game which culminates in 10 yellow cards (6-4), and both sides get booked in both halves. This also turned out to be Espanyol‘s first loss this season.
- 28th October saw Espanyol host surprise package Ponferradina where the roughness started early on. Both sides were already twice in Luis Milla‘s book before the break and Espanyol racked up three and opponents five yellows in total, seeing a booking both halves.
- The following week, Espanyol traveled to La Rosaleda to face Malaga in a game that would have been played in La Liga a few seasons back. The visitors ran out easy winners but it didn‘t mean they lacked the occasional two-footer, where both shared spoils in terms of bookings, 2-2 where Espanyol got both of their in the first half, and opponents saw one in each half.
- Espanyol visited Leganes where the two relegated La Liga teams both made their intentions clear – promotion. A fiery game got the best of Espanyol which got booked both halves and received a red card first half, while opponents Leganes were happy with the single card in the second half.
- Last but not least, Sporting Gijon paid Espanyol a visit on December 6th. The visitors saw their first card in 10 minutes and five in total, while Espanyol picked up two bookings before they scored two goals in 88th and 90th. So, 2-5 on cards here.
Again, the heat of the occasion in this league is big, and the other factor to account for is the referee. Luckily, we‘re in for a treat. Juan Pulido Santana is on his fifth season as a referee in Segunda and his carding averages have thus far only improved season to season.
From 10 games he‘s given 60 yellow cards generously (4, 2(1), 10, 5, 6, 7, 12, 4, 6, 4) with a bang on 6.0 average (5,5 median value – 2, 4, 4, 4, 5, 6, 6, 7, 10, 12) and only once has a team evaded a booking in the first half. He‘s also taken charge of some heated games, namely Leganes – Girona (remember, five cards each).
Girona knows what they‘re up against and their manager Francisco knows they‘re facing the best team in the league. Following his press conference praising the opponents, every intention was laid out to ‘be brave’ and ‘If we‘re not careful, they‘ll make us pay’. Yes, I‘m paraphrasing but the point remains, Girona intends to shut them out from the get-go while striving to take the play to their opponent’s half. Espanyol‘s manager Vicente Moreno has made it clear that he knows Girona will focus on the threat of Raúl de Tomás and will utilize every other way to get the three points here. He‘s also highlighted the importance of winning the other top teams in Segunda
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