Girona short of attacking options during the international break

Girona will enter the international break with their attacking resources reduced to a bare minimum. Quique Álvarez will have to deal with a severely depleted forward line for the two matches scheduled during that period, at Montilivi against Albacete and then Mallorca.

The main concern is the absence of Asprilla and Vanat, the two most decisive players in that area. The Colombian has become the leading attacking reference for the team, while Vanat has just opened his scoring account in Cádiz and is beginning to find continuity at centre-forward. Both will join their respective national teams.

Oleksandr Pyshchur, called up by the under-21 side, will also be unavailable. His absence carries extra weight because the forward had recently shown that his physical presence and direct style could offer Quique a useful option in certain situations.

The situation is also worsened by the injury list. Bryan Gil is continuing his recovery from a hamstring muscle injury, while Jastin will be out for several weeks with a quadriceps tear. Between internationals and injured players, five attacking options will therefore be unavailable to the coach.

To build his attack, Quique will consequently have only Abel Ruiz, Stuani, Carles Pérez and Portu from the first team. The latter nevertheless requires caution: after returning to the squad in Cádiz following nearly a year out with a serious cruciate ligament injury, he would still need to regain match sharpness after those long months without playing.

The shortage of options comes ahead of two fixtures whose importance is drawing particular attention. After Albacete, Mallorca, described as one of the leading candidates for promotion, will visit Montilivi. The Uruguayan, for his part, has played only half an hour and has not been given any minutes in the last four matches. Girona will therefore have to find answers at home without Asprilla and Vanat, with a heavily constrained attacking unit: at Montilivi, this break will offer very little rest.