A round-up of some of La Liga’s most intriguing storylines across the week, traversing through the good, the bad and something beautiful.
The Good – Michel, the manager for every situation
After going into a nosedive that most assumed would result in certain death (otherwise known as relegation), Girona levelled out just in time at the end of last season. They did so on the back Uruguayan titan Cristhian Stuani, to whom the ball has a gravitational pull in the box, and always seems to come up with a decisive goal.
Yet at the start of this season, stomach shaken by the high-wire acrobatics, Girona did not look the same. If they had shifted to a more argicultural style in order to save themselves, Els blanc-i-vermells sacrificed all sense of identity to do so. Michel Sanchez spoke with such pained disappointment one week, and such burning anger another, that the singular point, singular strike, and 20 goals conceded in Girona’s opening five games were not the most worrying thing about them.
As if he needed any more reason to be canonised in Northern Catalonia, what Michel has heaved himself and his side out of is scarcely seen. Last weekend, Girona left the relegation zone for the first time in 15 matchdays, going away to RCD Mallorca and winning 2-1. Jagoba Arrasate’s side have problems of their own, that result leaving the two level on points, but for context, had lost just one home game all season to Barcelona after going down to nine players in the first half.
The narrative for their trip to the island had all the hallmarks of a bad match-up for Girona; a grizzled side, not concerned with dominating the game with the ball, one willing to bog the game down and more scrappers to win the floor-fight. Since Michel arrived, Girona have treated the ball well, and looked to their most technical players to be the difference-makers. That they did against Mallorca, but as Arrasate send the air raids, Girona new how to battle, to release the tension from the game, to be as tough as they are smart.
The mood of Michel, the atmosphere at the club, the limp performances – few managers come through such lows these days. Out of the relegation zone for now, Michel’s side look safely away from the abyss in footballing terms too, a miraculous feat 13 games later.
The Bad – Diego Simeone is getting homesick
Atletico Madrid came up short this week against Real Madrid in the Spanish Supercup, a game where the increasingly famous ‘contundencia’ [effectiveness] played a starring role in their downfall. Losing a narrow game to Real Madrid in Saudi Arabia is bitter but not as much of a problem as their performance against Real Sociedad on Sunday night. In Jeddah, Atletico did all the things they were guilty of lacking in Donostia-San Sebastian.
There too, a more lethal Julian Alvarez or Conor Gallagher gets Atleti out of dodge, but as it was, they slumped to a 1-1 draw against a 15th-placed Real Sociedad far more short of finishers than Simeone is. It takes their win percentage in La Liga down to just 30% from their 10 away games.
Diego Simeone: “There are days when we can say ‘we didn’t play well, we didn’t create chances…’. Today it was the opposite, but we’re out unfortunately.” pic.twitter.com/gxKZctZFIb
— Atletico Universe (@atletiuniverse) January 8, 2026
Were they performing well, then the villain of the piece, contundencia, could be caught, and their problems solved. La Real looked like a side with more resources, more verve and more talent though. Like the Txuri-Urdin, Alaves, Celta Vigo and RCD Mallorca all felt unfortunate not to have beaten Atletico, and when you’re hanging on against the bottom half of the table regularly, contundencia is but one of the evils that lurk beyond the extremities of the Line 7 metro.
The Beautiful – The smartest play piece of goalkeeping this season?
Slim odds you might have had on this section paying tribute to the goalkeepers union twice in a row, yet it was heresy not to give the spotlight to Joan Garcia this week. His flying reactions to tip Pere Milla’s header over were highly impressive. Holding his nerve, and daring Roberto Fernandez to round him, that was excellent timing to outmanoeuver a teammate he had faced hundreds of times in training.
The piece de resistance is the save he didn’t make though. Former main character Mateu Lahoz called it unsportsmanlike conduct, a red card offence, a further sign that some officials are philosophically opposed to entertainment. But when Garcia, in hot pursuit of a rebound from a first save, realised he could not get to the ball in time, he came up with a solution. Shoving Gerard Martin to the floor, the panic on Martin’s face was a portrait, but the result was that he got close enough to smother Milla’s follow-up. Mission accomplished for Joan Garcia.
Joan Garcia sacrificed Gerard Martin to make the save😭 pic.twitter.com/OAE1f1tIlp
— Berneese (@theberneese) January 3, 2026
If we are melt for the x-ray vision of a midfielder, the unflappable defenders, and the ice-cold finishers, agent Joan Garcia deserves just as much credit for a work of remarkable intelligence.
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