In Spain last season, Girona surprised us: the team, which had just returned from Segunda to Primera, has actually been claiming the championship for some time. This would have been a fairy tale that could be included in the same book as Leicester, but Real Madrid stepped in and took their toll through experience. However, Girona will play in the Champions League, and for the team this is already a great achievement, one that almost no one could dream of before the start of the season.
But the Catalans are not the only ones who have made a sensational entrance into European competitions over the last 10 years. Let us recall other teams from Spain. However, there are not that many.
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Granada (2019/2020 season)
7th place – access to the Europa League
Granada players
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For most of its history, Granada bounced between Segunda and Primera, and then in the 2016/2017 season it was relegated from the top league again. In 2018 it finished tenth and fans’ hopes for a quick comeback faded: there was a feeling that the team would remain stuck in the second highest league for a long time. In the summer, Diego Martínez arrived at the club, a young coach who worked with Unai Emery at Sevilla and as a coach at Osasuna, with whom he finished eighth in the same season in which Granada finished tenth.
The club decided that Martinez would be a suitable candidate for the head coach position: they needed someone who could work on a limited budget, knew the players and the league, and also knew how to achieve results. The gamble of Granada’s Chinese owner Lizhang Jiang worked: Martinez brought the team back to the league in the first season. Second place, the fewest goals conceded among all the championship teams (28 in 42 matches), fourth place in the number of goals scored and only 650 thousand euros in transfers – this was Martinez’s first year at Granada.
In the league, the team started strongly: on the 5th round, Granada beat Barcelona at home and then, after scoring 20 points in the first 10 games, flew to first place. Former team striker Roberto Soldado said that the club’s growth depends entirely on Martínez: the dressing room believed in him and listened to him. The coach himself explained that it was based on physical preparation and the organization of the team structure. But that’s not all: Martínez managed to bring out the best qualities of each player: he selected individual exercises for the players so that they focused on their strengths.
Diego Martinez
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Martínez led Granada to the semi-finals of the Copa del Rey, but they failed to beat Athletic. After the 27th round, the championship was interrupted due to the coronavirus pandemic: the team went into the break in ninth place. After the resumption of the season, the fight for seventh place began, because the Spanish Cup, the winner of which takes a place in League of Legends, was postponed to an unknown date. And then Granada caught fire: at first it was a bit slow (victory over Getafe, draw-loss-draw-loss), and it seemed that Martínez’s team would still not reach the European Cup spot, but in the last round they defeated Athletic (4-0) and took a ticket to League of Legends. It was a historic event: Granada had never reached a European competition before.
The sensations continued in the Europa League the following season: the team reached the quarter-finals, beating Napoli and Molde. But they did not manage to advance further: Manchester United proved to be stronger in two games.
Martínez left and in the 2021/2022 season Granada was relegated to Segunda again. They returned the following season, but last year they were sent back to a lower division. Everything has returned to normal.
Betis (2020/2021 season)
6th place – access to the Europa League
Betis players
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Betis had 11 coaches between 2009 and 2019, including Pepe Mela, Gustavo Poyet and Quique Setién. The team was relegated twice, returned and qualified for European competitions twice, and in the 2019/2020 season finished 15th, five points away from the relegation zone. “We have not achieved the ambitious goals we set ourselves before the start of the season,” said president Ángel Haro, who dreamed of the Champions League. “Betis was disoriented and did not understand reality, although the team wanted to achieve something. Now we understand: it is time to break something urgently, otherwise Betis will simply stand still.”
Instead of the expected sale of players and reorganisation of the squad, the club’s management made another decision: to change the coach. In the 2019/2020 season, Betis were led by Rubi, who failed not only in terms of results on the pitch, but also in the dressing room: there was a toxic atmosphere and the coach lacked the authority to stop the stars. Manuel Pellegrini was appointed boss and everything changed dramatically.
Pellegrini has carried an important message throughout his coaching career: players must be instilled with calm and confidence. Footballers who worked with him speak of him as a very balanced person, who transmits information clearly and distinctly, and who neither praises too much nor destroys defeats.
Manuel Pellegrini
Photo: Joaquin Corchero/Europa Press via Getty Images
“Manuel is a very important figure,” said sporting director Alexis Trujillo. “He manages the team well: with respect and at a high level. His experience and maturity stand out: he gives confidence to the players. Obviously, this improves everyone’s productivity. All of us who work with Manuel feel important, all of us, regardless of our role.”
The Betis president did not hide: Pellegrini became a “calming agent” for the team: the dressing room was psychologically transformed very quickly, which also affected the results. At the same time, the coach did not need expensive players: he worked with those who were already in the team. He had no other choice: Betis, due to the devastating coronavirus pandemic, could afford little.
The team was already in the European Cup zone in its first season, where it finished. Betis, who were on the verge of relegation to the second division a year ago, finished in sixth place with the help of Pellegrini. The team remained stable in defence throughout the season and only lost once in the spring: against Sevilla.
Since then, Betis has never finished a season below sixth place and has consistently qualified for European competitions. In the 2021/2022 season, there were even chances of holding on to a place in the Champions League (in winter the team was third), but Pellegrini’s magic was not enough to hold on to the top three.
We also wrote about sensational Englishmen:
Not just Aston Villa and Emery’s Leicester. The most unexpected English clubs in European competitions
Girona (2023/2024 season)
3rd place: Champions League qualification
Girona players
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In 2017, Girona became part of the City Football Group empire and in the same season they escaped from the Second Division to the First Division, where they had not played for 87 years. In 2019, however, they were relegated, but in 2022 they returned and began to conquer La Liga.
The main thing that has changed at Girona is the approach to management and player selection. Players enter the team through a whole selection system with the possibility of playing for City, so whoever arrives is not accepted. “Girona has become the project of our life,” said Pere Guardiola, co-owner of the club and brother of Pep. “The reality is that we are outsiders. Everyone says that it is impossible to fight or irritate big opponents. But if you have a good group of scouts and a quality coach, sooner or later the day will come when you can play better than others.”
Angel Michael
Photo: Alex Caparros/Getty Images
And this day has really come. Girona started to show their good side in the penultimate season, but in the last championship they managed to open up even more and become one of the most interesting teams in the league. They use the goalkeeper as another unit in the game, they have a constantly changing game structure, in which all actions are balanced. And their players also get out of pressure in an incredible way: every game is well structured and thought out, and every player in Michel’s system plays an important role. And all this without huge transfer costs. They come to Girona for free or on loan, from small clubs and for little money, but with desire and a lot of potential. The strategy works because everything in this mechanism is structured.
At the beginning of last season, Míchel said that only housewives could seriously talk about Girona getting into the Champions League. But then the team flew to the top of the table; yes, they could not withstand the pressure of the experienced Real Madrid, but they still won a ticket to the Champions League.
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