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| Cristian Stuani and Arnau Martinez of Girona FC at full time during the La Liga SmartBank play off, Final match, first leg, between Girona FC and CD Tenerife played at Montilivi Stadium. |
There was no heartbreak for Girona this time.
After falling just short of promotion to La Liga the
last two seasons, the Catalan club made it back to the top flight on Sunday to
end a three-year spell in the Spanish second division.
Girona defeated Tenerife 3-1 in the second leg of
the promotion playoffs, earning the third and final spot in the top tier next
season. Girona were coming off losses to Elche and Rayo Vallecano in the last
two playoff finals.
Almeria and Valladolid, the club owned by former
Brazil striker Ronaldo, had earned the automatic promotion berths by finishing
in the top two in the regular season.
Girona were only sixth, grabbing the final spot in
the promotion playoffs. They needed extra time to defeat Eibar 2-1 on aggregate
in the semi-finals before getting past Tenerife after a 0-0 draw at home in the
first leg last week.
“A lot of memories are coming back,”
Girona forward Cristhian Stuani said.“There was a lot of sacrifice. We tried over
and over again. Three finals in a row. You can never give up, we showed that
today.”
Stuani, who stayed with Girona after the team’s
relegation in 2019, had scored the decisive goal in extra time against Eibar,
and he opened the scoring on Sunday by converting a penalty kick just before
halftime.
Girona were in the second division for 12 of the
last 14 seasons, with consecutive appearances in the top flight from 2017-19.
Tenerife, the Canary Islands club that missed a
chance to return to the main tier for the first time since 2009-10, equalised
with a goal by Carlos Ruiz in the 59th. The visitors retook the lead less than
10 minutes later with an own-goal by Jose Leon, with the ball deflecting off
his body off a cross and going in by the near post.
Arnau Martinez sealed Girona’s victory — and the
coveted first-division spot — with the third goal in the 80th.
Granada, Levante and Alaves were relegated from the
first division this season.
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