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In one of Europe’s biggest three-horse races, an unexpected fourth leads the way. Where usually Barcelona, Real Madrid and, on sporadic occasions, Atletico Madrid reside, there’s an altogether less-expected club sitting top of LaLiga after a third of the campaign – a free-scoring, attack-minded team who spent a net of barely £4m in the summer, have a stadium capacity of under 15,000 and whose best-ever season in LaLiga to date saw them finish 10th. Welcome to Girona FC. The story of their rise is a tale in itself, but their opening 12 games of this campaign might yet make for the stuff of local legend. As recently as 1999 the club was playing in the Catalan regional leagues, the fifth tier of Spanish football, but after achieving their first-ever top-flight campaign in 2017-18 and surviving for a second, they returned to LaLiga for 2022-23 and ended 10th last year – just as they did five years earlier, in fact. There appears to be no danger of season four emulating season two, though. Where then they were relegated, this term they top the table, two points ahead of Real Madrid, four clear of champions Barcelona and a full six ahead of Atletico. Between Girona and fifth is a massive 10 points, after just a dozen matches. Masterminding this unexpected rise is head coach Michel Sanchez Munoz, better known just as Michel, a former Rayo Vallecano and Real Murcia player who has been in the dugout at Estadi Montilivi since 2021. Michel has the team playing offensive football – they’ve not only won more games than anyone this term, they’ve also outscored everyone in LaLiga– and the manner of it is even more impressive given the turnover of the squad: 10 in, three out, another half a dozen loaned away. That new group has been quickly moulded into a cohesive unit with a very identifiable approach to matches, as one of those new arrivals, former Manchester United and Ajax defender Daley Blind, told The Independent. “It’s always difficult to compare managers, each one has his own ID and way of playing. But what stands out is the manager is really clear in how he wants to play football, he has a really clear idea about every game we play and having a real tactical plan,” Blind says on a call. “He tries to give that to the team and make sure we understand the gameplan. “The story he told me before I came to Girona was really intriguing and I can’t say anything other than he did not lie – I got excited and wanted to play here after speaking to him. “You can’t know it for sure beforehand but we’re really happy with how it’s going and it’s always important for a coach to be clear about that.” Blind is happily effusive about Michel’s man management as well as his tactical acumen. Having spent most of his career under the likes of Louis van Gaal, Jose Mourinho, father Danny Blind and others, he’s well placed to talk about who is impressive or otherwise on the coaching ground. And while he won’t directly look at matching up Michel’s attributes to anyone else’s, he makes the point that there’s a real connection between coach and squad. “I don’t want to compare [to others] but, for me, he’s a manager who is human, who connects on a personal level as well. He joins in the rondo [training game of keep-ball] and is part of the guys; at the moment training really starts he’s then really on top of it and not holding back,” the centre-back explains. “He expects every training [session] to be the best but there’s always time for a joke here and there. He has a good connection with every player – that’s very special.” Blind freely admits that his spell in Spain came at the second time of asking. He got the call from Girona last year after leaving Ajax; while considering his next move, Bayern Munich swooped in and he felt he needed to go. This summer, though, he was confident Girona was the right move. While the Dutchman has been a mainstay at the back this term, central midfielder Aleix Garcia has caught the eye, while in attack young winger Savio has been impressive and new centre-forward Artem Dovbyk has not so much hit the ground running as thundering through defences, scoring six in eight starts or one every 109 minutes. Among LaLiga’s best goal-getters, only Gerard Moreno (105), Alvaro Morata (105) and top scorer Jude Bellingham (95) can beat the Ukrainian’s strike rate. So has the fast start by Girona altered their season aims, made them aim higher than might have been the objective at the start of the campaign? Not for Blind, who maintains the “one game at a time” mantra. “For me, it hasn’t changed, you want to finish as high as possible in the league and that’s what we aim for. We’ll see where that is at the end of the season,” he says. “You always be ambitious and have an aim but in the end, you look game by game because the next one is most important and you want the three points. But you see which games are in the next couple of weeks and be ambitious about it. It’s not for me to reveal what we say about [those runs] but it always comes back to the next game.” For Girona, the next game is away on Saturday to Rayo Vallecano, Michel’s oldest and most closely linked club. Beat them and the Catalan club will remain top across the international break, the envy of not just smaller clubs around Europe hoping to improve their own fortunes and challenge higher in the league but of every club in Spain – including the very biggest and the supposed best. Perhaps, just perhaps, they won’t be this year. Watch LaLiga on Viaplay, available in the UK on Sky, Virgin TV, Amazon Prime Video and via streaming Read More Jeremy Doku’s brilliance shows Man City’s edge and Chelsea’s key problem Ange Postecoglu gives injury update for Tottenham star James Maddison Football stadium plunged into darkness after rivals turn off lights during title win Jeremy Doku’s brilliance shows Man City’s edge and Chelsea’s key problem Ange Postecoglu gives injury update for Tottenham star James Maddison Football stadium plunged into darkness after rivals turn off lights during title win

The Sacramento Kings used the 2023 NBA Draft to dump salary and clear the books. This could be the beginning of a big offseason.The Kings had a very interesting draft, beginning the night with the No. 24 pick. Rather than selecting a player, they opted to move their draft pick to dump Richaun Ho...

Manchester United are in a “bad place” but managing the Red Devils is not the impossible job, according to Erik Ten Hag. The Dutchman is the latest esteemed manager to flounder in his efforts to restore United’s place at the top of the game, with his side struggling at home and on their return to the Champions League. But, asked if he had the impossible job, Ten Hag said: “It’s the wrong way (to look at it). We have to fight. I think there is no club where it never goes down. “We are in a bad place but then you have to fight. You have to realise, everyone, that we are there and you have to fight together and you are on one page on every occasion.” Ten Hag cited Tuesday’s home loss to Galatasaray as an example of what is going wrong this season, saying: “We were for 28 minutes on one page, we score a goal and then in one split second we are not on one page. “It was the first shot the opponent got and straight in. You can’t allow it in top football because it’s about moments, it’s about details. Opponents will always benefit from it so we can’t allow these small details.” United have lost six of their 10 games so far this campaign, and there have been mutterings about Ten Hag’s future, which would only intensify should they suffer another setback against Brentford on Saturday. The former Ajax boss insisted he will not drop his ambitions but called for time, saying: “It’s patience, cool heads, but stick together and focus on what it’s about, the way of play. “I knew there would be gaps, would be setbacks, and there will be in every process. It’s coming probably more, that’s understandable. But focus on the things it’s about, and that’s football, and nothing else. “We are still in a transition but in the meantime we have to win every game and we don’t walk away from that. Not this team, not these coaches, not this manager, definitely not. That is the approach and that will be the approach always.” Asked if the tough times made him even more determined to succeed, Ten Hag added: “Absolutely. It even makes me more sharp and gives me more energy to fight to turn this.” Read More Leigh Wood: I’m Josh Warrington’s last chance to get back into title contention He’s not Superman – Mark Wood insists England cannot put pressure on Ben Stokes Roy Hodgson admits Crystal Palace are in midst of a ‘serious injury crisis’

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Idris Elba is another right guy in the wrong place in "Hijack," a tense real-time thriller in the mode of "24," which follows a hijacked plane from the perspectives of its passengers, their captors and authorities on the ground. Crisp and tense, the seven-episode Apple TV+ series overcomes its slightly claustrophobic premise in a show unlikely to ever be offered as in-flight entertainment.