Ukraine forward Artem Dovbyk on Monday scored twice as Girona wrote another chapter of their Cinderella story with a dominant 3-0 win over Deportivo Alaves to leapfrog Real Madrid and reclaim top spot in La Liga.
The lowly Catalan side have forged ahead and sit alone at the top of the standings on 44 points, two ahead of Real Madrid and nine clear of last season’s champions Barcelona in third.
Girona’s stunning start to La Liga this season scaled new heights last week when they claimed a statement 4-2 victory over Barca — their first league win over their Catalan rivals — and they kept the ball rolling against Alaves.
Photo: AFP
They dominated proceedings with the same intensity they have shown this season, with their 3-0 defeat at home to Real Madrid in late September the only major blip in a stunning start to the campaign.
Dovbyk opened the scoring in the 23rd minute with a close-range strike from a rebound off the goalkeeper and Portu extended their lead just before the break with a fine first-time effort from the edge of the box.
Most of the hosts’ scoring opportunities came from the right side of their attack, with 21-year-old Brazil fullback Yan Couto troubling Alaves’ defense with his speed and skill.
Photo: EPA-EFE
On one of his sprints up the wing, he knocked the ball through a defender’s legs to get into the box before being fouled from behind in the 59th minute, earning a penalty that Dovbyk netted with a tidy finish right down the middle of the goal.
The win was Girona’s 14th in 17 games, giving them the most wins and points in Europe’s top five leagues at this stage of the season.
SERIE A
Photo: AFP
AP, ROME
Atalanta BC on Monday recovered from conceding an early goal to score four times in the second half and hammer US Salernitana 1919 4-1 in Serie A.
The result lifted the team from Bergamo into seventh place, a point behind ACF Fiorentina and SSC Napoli.
Salernitana remained on the bottom.
Salernitana came into the game with the worst away record in the league, having collected just two points from seven games and scoring a meager four goals.
They threatened to terminate that appalling record with an early goal.
After 10 minutes, Lorenzo Pirola snuck in between two defenders to head home a deep cross from the right.
However, the home side moved up a gear in a tremendous second half.
Luis Muriel equalized with a spectacular volley after 47 minutes and five minutes later Atalanta were ahead when Mario Pasalic cheekily slotted the ball between a defender’s legs and past the unsighted goalkeeper.
Belgian midfielder Charles De Ketelaere made it 3-1 eight minutes from time and Aleksei Miranchuk scored the last in the last minute.
PREMIER LEAGUE
Reuters
Sunderland AFC have appointed former Rangers boss Michael Beale as their new head coach to replace Tony Mowbray, the English Championship club said on Monday.
Sunderland early this month sacked Mowbray after 15 months in charge. He led Sunderland to the Championship playoffs in his first season, but the team have won only two of their past nine league matches while he was in charge.
“Beale has signed a contract until summer 2026 at the Stadium of Light and started his role on Monday, returning to coaching two months after leaving Rangers,” Sunderland said in a statement.
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