Girona 2-1 Athletic Bilbao: Gazzaniga penalty saves set the stage for late Stuani winner

Cristhian Stuani scored a 99th-minute penalty to snatch a 2-1 victory for Girona against Athletic Bilbao after Paulo Gazzaniga had saved multiple spot-kicks at the other end.

Alex Berenguer won the first penalty in the 26th minute after being fouled by Arnau Martinez, but the goalkeeper denied him when he stepped up.

Athletic were punished shortly after as Yaser Asprilla sent a dangerous left-footed cross past Alex Padilla into the bottom-left corner.

Oihan Sancet scored the equaliser just two minutes later, but the visitors’ poor luck from 12 yards continued after the break.

Inaki Williams’ effort was also stopped but had to be retaken as Gazzaniga’s feet were off the line. However, the goalkeeper kept his nerve, as he denied Ander Herrera, who stepped up to take the second attempt.

Deep in stoppage time, Aitor Paredes brought down Ladislav Krejci in the box and received two bookings in less than a minute, one for the foul and the second for dissent.

Stuani duly converted the resulting spot-kick to seal all three points for Girona and end a four-match winless run in LaLiga.

Asprilla
Stuani
QUINA VICTÒRIA!
#GironaAthletic pic.twitter.com/sN0Z3XwdEf

— Girona FC (@GironaFC) October 6, 2024

Data Debrief: Athletic pay the penalty for spot-kick woe

Athletic will be scratching their heads as to how they came away from this game with nothing, given the attacking threat they showed throughout.

They accumulated 2.59 expected goals (xG) from their 13 shots, albeit those two spot-kicks played a huge part in that total, but come away with an unwanted record as they missed two penalties in a single LaLiga game for the first time this century.

That was largely down to Gazzaniga’s heroics, though, as he showed his prowess with three saves, even if one of those will not officially count.

Stuani proved the hero in the end though, scoring his sixth goal against Athletic in LaLiga to get Michel’s side up and running again before the international break.