“We’ve had season tickets at Girona for decades,” explains Xavi Bautista, a Girona fan, ahead of a Catalan derby between Barcelona and Girona on Monday.
“There were no crowds, maybe a few hundred people and we would play local rivals in local leagues, games against Lloret de Mar and such teams. Then Girona started to rise.”
Bautista is standing outside the visitors’ section at Camp Nou with his wife Monica for a La Liga game between the league leaders and the middle table side. Or, put another way, the team with the highest and lowest average crowds in the league - 83,000 average against 11,000. He wears a Girona shirt and scarf, Monica a Barca top – yet she wants Girona to win “because we need the points”.
Confused? Read on.
Girona, one of the four capitals of Catalonia that is 100 kilometres north of Barcelona, has traditionally been where Barca can count on strong support. Cars, buses and trains have long left the wealthy city of 100,000 for games at Camp Nou.
“Girona is like a village compared to Barcelona and most people in Girona are Barca,” says Bautista. “They’re the big team. So for Girona fans to see their team play against Barca is a present, one they’re going to enjoy.”
Their fans clearly enjoy mixing with Barca fans on the streets outside the stadium with the rare sight of supporters celebrating together. All Barcelona games are graded by their security risk. Barca v Real Madrid or Manchester United gets the highest possible risk grade and the club send a unique message: “Today’s match is not considered high risk by the anti-violence committee, so Girona fans could buy tickets in any area of the stadium and can wear the rival team’s clothing.”
Many do. The two teams didn’t meet in a league game until Girona were first promoted in 2018 and stayed up for two seasons before another promotion last season via the play offs.
Girona are still hoping for a first-ever win against Barca, but the mood around the stadium is easy and if Barca are standard bearers for Catalonia, then Girona get it.
Girona has seldom been described as a football hotbed. Basketball and hockey games were better attended in the city in 1990s, but if you talk restaurants or cycling then you can link the city with the very best. A Girona restaurant - El Bulli and then El Celler de Can Rocca - has been named the best in the world seven times. And just as many times a restaurant from the city has been deemed the second best in the world, according to The World's 50 Best Restaurants list. Some of the world’s top cyclists choose to live in the city so close to the Pyrenees mountains, with its temperate climate and proximity to Spain’s French border by the stunning Costa Brava.
The proximity to Barca was a reason why Girona’s own team spent so long in the minor leagues before they began to rise in 2009 when they were promoted to Spain’s second tier for the first time in 50 years. Their Montilivi ground was still fraying and only had seating on three sides, their budget was typical of that of a mid-table second division club. They finished in the top four of the second division three times before promotion was finally achieved in 2018.
“The point of inflexion came when we became part of the City Football Group,” explains Bautista of the 2017 deal when City Football Group announced that they had acquired 44.3 per cent of Girona FC, with Pep Guardiola’s football agent brother Pere holding another 44.3 per cent and a fans’ group the rest. It’s not a link either party likes to play up and Girona are keen to keep their independence and make sure that no party owns more than 50 per cent. Girona have not taken the ‘City’ name and wear red not blue.
Local players have featured prominently – Catalonia is a football factory and the club want to take advantage of the talent on their doorstep. Girona benefit from using Manchester City’s training facilities during pre-season, recruitment, scouting, executive leadership and more, while City see their playing assets appreciate if they can hold their own in La Liga, while holding a substantial stake in a La Liga club.
There were many red Girona shirts in the 78,425 crowd during Monday's clash against Barca.
“My wife is from Girona, that’s why I’m wearing this scarf,” explains Sergi, who is also wearing a Barcelona shirt like his two sons, Lluc and Guilleme. “We’re 12 points clear of Madrid so I’ll be happy whichever team wins today. But the league has been good for Girona, too.”
“The feeling is very Catalan and the two styles of football are very similar,” says Josep Gimenez, who is outside the stadium with his partner Eva, who wears a Girona shirt. “The link with Manchester City focuses on the youth side at Girona. There will be a new training ground with seven pitches. Football is new in Girona. The passion in the city was for hockey or basketball when I was younger. Now you see youngsters wearing Girona shirts. Today is a party for Barca and for Girona in the style of Barcelona’s Masia.”
“We’ve had a good season,” adds Eva. “Taty Castellanos has been our best player.”
Girona’s away kit is based on the Catalan Senyera flag and after 17 minutes the chants for Catalan independence, while not as loud as they were before the 2017 referendum, are substantial; over 70 per cent of people in Girona had voted for Catalan independence. Girona are 11th, having recovered from a poor start to the season when they languished in 18th place at the end of October. They beat fellow Catalan side Espanyol the week before they played Barcelona, though there was little of the friendliness on show between the pair on Monday.
Girona’s main striker is the Argentine Castellanos, 24, who rose through the City group of clubs from Torque in Uruguay to New York City where he was the MLS’s top scorer before his loan to Girona. Castellanos misses the best chance of the game and is so upset that he was crying in the dressing room afterwards, before he deleted all his social media channels. But his well organised team performed well and became only the third team to take a point at Camp Nou this season.
In Barcelona’s previous home game against Real Madrid last week, the sound amid the stunned silence after Madrid scored their fourth goal was the 200 away fans singing ‘El Viva Espana’ – a provocative song in Catalonia. On Monday night, the game finished with both sets of fans applauding a rare goalless draw.
Poacher
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EDirector%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ERichie%20Mehta%26nbsp%3B%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EStarring%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Nimisha%20Sajayan%2C%20Roshan%20Mathew%2C%20Dibyendu%20Bhattacharya%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ERating%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E3%2F5%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Specs
Engine: Electric motor generating 54.2kWh (Cooper SE and Aceman SE), 64.6kW (Countryman All4 SE)
Power: 218hp (Cooper and Aceman), 313hp (Countryman)
Torque: 330Nm (Cooper and Aceman), 494Nm (Countryman)
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh158,000 (Cooper), Dh168,000 (Aceman), Dh190,000 (Countryman)
KILLING OF QASSEM SULEIMANI
The specs: 2018 Mercedes-Benz GLA
Price, base / as tested Dh150,900 / Dh173,600
Engine 2.0L inline four-cylinder
Transmission Seven-speed automatic
Power 211hp @ 5,500rpm
Torque 350Nm @ 1,200rpm
Fuel economy, combined 6.4L / 100km
The bio
Favourite vegetable: Broccoli
Favourite food: Seafood
Favourite thing to cook: Duck l'orange
Favourite book: Give and Take by Adam Grant, one of his professors at University of Pennsylvania
Favourite place to travel: Home in Kuwait.
Favourite place in the UAE: Al Qudra lakes
How The Debt Panel's advice helped readers in 2019
December 11: 'My husband died, so what happens to the Dh240,000 he owes in the UAE?'
JL, a housewife from India, wrote to us about her husband, who died earlier this month. He left behind an outstanding loan of Dh240,000 and she was hoping to pay it off with an insurance policy he had taken out. She also wanted to recover some of her husband’s end-of-service liabilities to help support her and her son.
“I have no words to thank you for helping me out,” she wrote to The Debt Panel after receiving the panellists' comments. “The advice has given me an idea of the present status of the loan and how to take it up further. I will draft a letter and send it to the email ID on the bank’s website along with the death certificate. I hope and pray to find a way out of this.”
November 26: ‘I owe Dh100,000 because my employer has not paid me for a year’
SL, a financial services employee from India, left the UAE in June after quitting his job because his employer had not paid him since November 2018. He owes Dh103,800 on four debts and was told by the panellists he may be able to use the insolvency law to solve his issue.
SL thanked the panellists for their efforts. "Indeed, I have some clarity on the consequence of the case and the next steps to take regarding my situation," he says. "Hopefully, I will be able to provide a positive testimony soon."
October 15: 'I lost my job and left the UAE owing Dh71,000. Can I return?'
MS, an energy sector employee from South Africa, left the UAE in August after losing his Dh12,000 job. He was struggling to meet the repayments while securing a new position in the UAE and feared he would be detained if he returned. He has now secured a new job and will return to the Emirates this month.
“The insolvency law is indeed a relief to hear,” he says. "I will not apply for insolvency at this stage. I have been able to pay something towards my loan and credit card. As it stands, I only have a one-month deficit, which I will be able to recover by the end of December."
Brief scores:
Liverpool 3
Mane 24', Shaqiri 73', 80'
Manchester United 1
Lingard 33'
Man of the Match: Fabinho (Liverpool)
Benefits of first-time home buyers' scheme
- Priority access to new homes from participating developers
- Discounts on sales price of off-plan units
- Flexible payment plans from developers
- Mortgages with better interest rates, faster approval times and reduced fees
- DLD registration fee can be paid through banks or credit cards at zero interest rates
Key changes
Commission caps
For life insurance products with a savings component, Peter Hodgins of Clyde & Co said different caps apply to the saving and protection elements:
• For the saving component, a cap of 4.5 per cent of the annualised premium per year (which may not exceed 90 per cent of the annualised premium over the policy term).
• On the protection component, there is a cap of 10 per cent of the annualised premium per year (which may not exceed 160 per cent of the annualised premium over the policy term).
• Indemnity commission, the amount of commission that can be advanced to a product salesperson, can be 50 per cent of the annualised premium for the first year or 50 per cent of the total commissions on the policy calculated.
• The remaining commission after deduction of the indemnity commission is paid equally over the premium payment term.
• For pure protection products, which only offer a life insurance component, the maximum commission will be 10 per cent of the annualised premium multiplied by the length of the policy in years.
Disclosure
Customers must now be provided with a full illustration of the product they are buying to ensure they understand the potential returns on savings products as well as the effects of any charges. There is also a “free-look” period of 30 days, where insurers must provide a full refund if the buyer wishes to cancel the policy.
“The illustration should provide for at least two scenarios to illustrate the performance of the product,” said Mr Hodgins. “All illustrations are required to be signed by the customer.”
Another illustration must outline surrender charges to ensure they understand the costs of exiting a fixed-term product early.
Illustrations must also be kept updatedand insurers must provide information on the top five investment funds available annually, including at least five years' performance data.
“This may be segregated based on the risk appetite of the customer (in which case, the top five funds for each segment must be provided),” said Mr Hodgins.
Product providers must also disclose the ratio of protection benefit to savings benefits. If a protection benefit ratio is less than 10 per cent "the product must carry a warning stating that it has limited or no protection benefit" Mr Hodgins added.
How England have scored their set-piece goals in Russia
Three Penalties
v Panama, Group Stage (Harry Kane)
v Panama, Group Stage (Kane)
v Colombia, Last 16 (Kane)
Four Corners
v Tunisia, Group Stage (Kane, via John Stones header, from Ashley Young corner)
v Tunisia, Group Stage (Kane, via Harry Maguire header, from Kieran Trippier corner)
v Panama, Group Stage (Stones, header, from Trippier corner)
v Sweden, Quarter-Final (Maguire, header, from Young corner)
One Free-Kick
v Panama, Group Stage (Stones, via Jordan Henderson, Kane header, and Raheem Sterling, from Tripper free-kick)
MATCH INFO
Rugby World Cup (all times UAE)
Final: England v South Africa, Saturday, 1pm
ICC Women's T20 World Cup Asia Qualifier 2025, Thailand
UAE fixtures
May 9, v Malaysia
May 10, v Qatar
May 13, v Malaysia
May 15, v Qatar
May 18 and 19, semi-finals
May 20, final
Five healthy carbs and how to eat them
Brown rice: consume an amount that fits in the palm of your hand
Non-starchy vegetables, such as broccoli: consume raw or at low temperatures, and don’t reheat
Oatmeal: look out for pure whole oat grains or kernels, which are locally grown and packaged; avoid those that have travelled from afar
Fruit: a medium bowl a day and no more, and never fruit juices
Lentils and lentil pasta: soak these well and cook them at a low temperature; refrain from eating highly processed pasta variants
Courtesy Roma Megchiani, functional nutritionist at Dubai’s 77 Veggie Boutique
SPECS
Toyota land Cruiser 2020 5.7L VXR
Engine: 5.7-litre V8
Transmission: eight-speed automatic
Power: 362hp
Torque: 530Nm
Price: Dh329,000 (base model 4.0L EXR Dh215,900)
Sri Lanka-India Test series schedule
- 1st Test India won by 304 runs at Galle
- 2nd Test Thursday-Monday at Colombo
- 3rd Test August 12-16 at Pallekele
MOUNTAINHEAD REVIEW
Starring: Ramy Youssef, Steve Carell, Jason Schwartzman
Director: Jesse Armstrong
Rating: 3.5/5
