Girona cap off best-ever season by thumping relegated Granada
Girona have not lost back-to-back league home games since 2019 and on 29 minutes they were ahead.
A well-worked corner saw the ball delivered to the back post where the on-loan Barcelona man Eric Garcia was on hand to score his fifth headed goal of the season.
From there, the floodgates opened and just a mere four minutes later, Girona doubled their lead.
A mix-up in the middle of the park saw Portu take advantage to feed the overlapping Miguel Gutierrez who laid the ball across for Viktor Tsyhankov to apply the deft touch at the near post to make it 2-0.
Just before the break, Girona put the result beyond doubt. Daley Blind strode out from the back before unleashing Portu through on goal.
The 32-year-old Spaniard was duly brought down before Artem Dovbyk converted the penalty to put himself within one goal of the league’s top scorer Alexander Sorloth.
Some of the Girona faithful will be somewhat disappointed at how their title challenge faltered away but Michel’s men were clearly intent on signing off the season with a dominant display.
Manchester City-bound Savio had only been on the pitch for three minutes before he laid the ball on a plate for Tsyhankov’s second of the match and Girona’s fourth.
Facundo Pellistri was shown a second yellow card on 61 minutes to compound Granada’s misery as they limped to defeat finishing the season as the only top-flight team without a win on their travels for only the second time in the history books since the turn of the century.
With the result all wrapped up midway through the second half, Dovbyk’s attentions turned to the top scorer race and he levelled things up with Sorloth on 74 minutes after slotting in number 23 for the season.
Dovbyk turned provider on 78 minutes to head a wide delivery back across goal where Cristhian Stuani was lurking to tap in number six.
The Ukrainian marksman was gifted the opportunity to put a glimmer of daylight between himself and Sorloth in the Pichichi race when Savio was brought down in the box on 89 minutes and Dovbyk stepped up to slot home number 24 for the season.
Whether Michel will still be in control of the reins for Girona's maiden Champions League adventure remains to be seen as this summer's managerial merry-go-round is set to begin imminently but the Spanish sensation’s brand of attacking football was on display against Granada as the home side cemented their status as the best of the rest behind behemoths Barcelona and Real Madrid in what is just their fourth-ever campaign in the Spanish top-flight.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Artem Dovbyk (Girona)
