At 2 a.m. on December 22, 2023, the 18th round of La Liga ushered in a key battle, with the leader Girona challenging Real Betis away.
Girona is not well-known, but this season has sprung up, still at the top of the La Liga standings after 17 rounds, beating the Galactic Fleet Real Madrid, and six points away from the defending champion Barcelona, not only becoming a dark horse in La Liga, but also a rather dark horse in terms of the record of the five major leagues. In the last round, Girona easily defeated Alaves 3-0 at home, and in the 16th round of La Liga, they defeated Barcelona 4-2 at Camp Nou, making a name for themselves. And Real Betis, after 17 rounds, six wins, nine draws and two losses, only ranked seventh in La Liga, the results alone are still okay, but compared with Girona, there is still a lot of difference, Girona fans believe that the team can return triumphantly at Betis' home stadium!
Let's focus on the pitch and go from dreams to reality!
The first 35 minutes of the first half were largely tepid, but there was one passive substitution each, with Real Betis bringing on Ruival for Bellerin and Girona bringing on Juampe for David López.
The pitch seems to be calm, but in fact there is an undercurrent. In the 37th minute, Girona took the lead in attacking, and the referee did not hesitate to award a penalty after the 19-year-old Brazilian striker Savio was brought down in the penalty area. Dovic took the penalty, very calmly, very confident, and did deceive the goalkeeper, pushing the ball into the bottom left corner of the net to give Girona a 1-0 lead! Judging from the course of the first half, Girona still had the advantage, after all, the possession rate was a little higher than Real Betis, and Real Betis did not get a shot on goal in the first half. Fans fantasize about an early end to the game so that they can hold the three points firmly in their hands.
Dovic continued his red-hot form with a penalty spot-kick, contributing 11 goals in 17 La Liga appearances, plus four assists, and was directly involved in 15 goals, equalling Real Madrid new signing Jude Bellingham, who contributed 13 goals and two assists in 15 appearances. However, Real Madrid has one less game, and in the scorer list, Dovic temporarily tied Griezmann with 11 goals, and there are Mayoral with 12 goals and Bellingham with 13 goals in front of him, and Dovic still has a chance to compete for the top scorer in La Liga. Of course, the top scorer can be noted, and it would be great if the La Liga title was won.
The hard work paid off, and after conceding the goal, Real Betis strengthened the offensive through continuous substitutions in the second half, and received positive results.
In the 88th minute, there was chaos in front of the Girona penalty area, Real Betis's 32-year-old Argentine defender Pezzella made a powerful shot from the right side of the penalty area to penetrate Girona's defense and complete the final draw, Girona's 3 points became 1 point, and Girona fans fell from heaven to hell, which is a pity. In the end, Girona 1-1 Real Betis. Girona leads with 45 points, seven points ahead of Barcelona and three points ahead of Real Madrid, but because of the much worse goal difference compared to the Galaxy Battleship, as long as Real Madrid get three points in the 18th round, they can squeeze out Girona to regain the top of the standings.