Three years ago today, Girona was already preparing early for a key game of the season.

Michel had been in charge as coach for two months and his new team had suffered three consecutive defeats against Ponferradina, Sporting Gijon and Malaga in the Spanish second division. On September 18, 2021, Real Valladolid visited in a match that was already considered a must-win.

It could be said that Michel turned things around. Valladolid were beaten 1-0. Girona made it to La Liga this season via the play-offs and tonight the team will make their Champions League debut after a sensational campaign in the top flight last season.

There are a few things you should know about Girona. In 1999 they played in the fifth division. As recently as 2006/07 they were in the Spanish Tercera Division (then the fourth highest division in the country). Girona, the eleventh largest city in Catalonia, is not a place known for its sporting successes.

“The citizens of Girona were mainly fans of Barcelona, ​​​​Real Madrid or even Espanyol,” said Girona president Delfi Geli, a former player of the club. The athlete last year.

“I watched football matches at Montilivi (Girona’s home stadium with 14,624 seats) with 200 spectators in the stands. That was our reality and the closest we had to the elite. The city once had a basketball team in the national top division, but football… you had to look elsewhere.”

The story of how Girona rose from an amateur football institution to a Champions League club is considered a fairytale, but it is a success story that was made even stronger by the threat of bankruptcy.

In 2013, as Girona was establishing itself in Spain’s second division, the club filed for bankruptcy after accumulating debts of €2.3 million (US$2.5 million; £2 million) to the Spanish Treasury and a further €800,000 to the Public Health Service.

At this point, then-majority owner Josep Delgado, a local businessman, began looking for a way out. The search for a new investor ended with Pere Guardiola, brother of Manchester City manager Pep, stepping in. He acted as an intermediary with French investor TVSE Futbol to acquire an 80 percent stake in the club.

According to Spanish media reports, the sale price was set at €2.6 million, with €380,000 needed to cover short-term costs such as players’ salaries. This saved Girona in the short term – and in the long term served as a springboard for the City Football Group (CFG) to eventually join the project.

That was supposed to happen in the summer of 2017. Previously, Girona had suffered three promotion play-off defeats in four years (2013, 2015, 2016) before finally achieving its goal of promotion to La Liga. After a second-place finish in Spain’s second division in the 2016/17 season, CFG and Pere Guardiola bought the shares of TVSE Futbol and Girona became a satellite club of CFG.

One player who has witnessed all of this is the club’s captain and former Middlesbrough striker Cristhian Stuani. The 37-year-old, who signed for the club in 2017, has experienced one relegation from La Liga, two failed attempts to get back into the top flight and one promotion.

Stuani is the player with the most goals in Girona’s time in Spanish professional football (132 in 251 games) and the most important player in the club’s history. He stayed at Girona after the 2018/19 relegation, turning down offers from La Liga and compromising on his salary to stay. Nobody in Girona forgets that.

Now he is still far from his peak and the squad has younger and more promising strikers, such as Spanish Olympic champion Abel Ruiz (24) or 25-year-old North Macedonian striker Bojan Miovski, but the Uruguayan is still important. This week, Michel confirmed that Stuani will start in Paris.

It is clear why tonight’s match at Paris Saint-Germain should be considered by far the greatest day in the club’s history. The club will be officially received in Paris by a delegation from the Catalan regional government, who will pay tribute to the club’s achievements. On the eve of the match, the directors will join their PSG counterparts for a dinner at the Parc des Princes. The mayor of Girona has planned to attend the match and 1,000 travelling fans are expected.

You’ve already had quite a journey to get here.

Girona’s remarkable performances last season saw them finish third in La Liga with 81 points, just four behind second-placed Barcelona, ​​who they beat twice (4-2 home and away). They scored 85 goals in 38 games, with only champions Real Madrid scoring more (87).

The team’s offensive, fearless and passionate style of play earned Michel and his players most of the awards. But since then, they have had to regroup.

This summer, Girona lost last season’s top scorer Artem Dovbyk (24 goals) to Roma in a deal worth around €40 million. Bayer Leverkusen signed midfielder Aleix Garcia for €18 million. Brazilian winger Savinho, on loan from CFG’s sister club Troyes, joined Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City, full-back Yan Couto (on loan from City) joined Borussia Dortmund and centre-back Eric Garcia returned to Barcelona after another loan.

Girona’s sporting director Quique Carcel had no easy task when he had to put together a completely new team to compete in the Champions League. They reportedly spent a total of €44 million on 11 new signings, three times beating their previous transfer record (€8 million for Dovbyk). According to club sources – who, like all the people cited here, preferred to remain anonymous to protect their relationships – some players were signed thanks to the good publicity for the project.

The biggest signing was Yaser Asprilla from Watford, who arrived in a deal with an initial value of €18 million, with a further €6 million to be added depending on add-ons.

Asprilla and his family were treated to a charm offensive that included a tour of the city and the club’s facilities. A clear plan was drawn up on how Girona could provide him with the best platform to progress further. Asprilla had more lucrative offers from the Premier League, but he turned them down.

Wingers Bryan Gil (Tottenham Hotspur; loan) and Arnaut Danjuma (Villarreal; loan) were also convinced that Girona was the best club to get their careers back on track. Donny van de Beek signed after leaving Manchester United.

Gil was a target of his boyhood club Sevilla, but Girona ended up being the most attractive offer. Danjuma, whose transfer was not finalised until deadline day, was determined to play Champions League football and chose Girona over Ligue 1 side Lille. Sources involved in the negotiations said Villarreal, Danjuma’s parent club, saw Girona as a better scenario for the player to increase in value ahead of next summer’s transfer window.

Last September, Girona had the 14th highest salary cap of all La Liga clubs at €52 million (far behind Real Madrid at €727 million, Atletico at €296 million and Barca at €270 million). This season, that cap has risen to €94 million – now seven clubs above it.

Salary caps in La Liga are set individually for each club and are based on the club’s revenue. Girona’s salary cap is set to see a significant increase.

They announced revenues of €55 million in 2022 and €60 million in 2023. Club sources now say they are aiming to announce revenues well over €100 million this year – thanks to the impact of Champions League qualification and player sales this summer. But reaching Europe’s elite club championship has also brought with it some headaches.

At the start of the year, Girona’s participation in the competition was a big question mark. For both Manchester City and Girona to participate in the Champions League, they had to comply with UEFA’s rules on multi-club ownership. This summer saw another change in the Catalan club’s ownership structure.

CFG reduced its stake in Girona to 30 percent – the maximum allowed by UEFA – by selling 17 percent to an independent blind trust. The three CFG executives who served on Girona’s board were also forced to resign.

And then there’s the stadium. Girona’s small Montilivi stadium, built in 1970, has limited room for expansion as it sits near a hill and borders several local university buildings.

In La Liga, the stadium has a capacity of just under 15,000 fans, of which around 6,000 are accommodated in temporary stands. These are not permitted in UEFA competitions, so the capacity for home Champions League matches is only around 9,700. For away fans, only 700 tickets are expected to be available per game at Montilivi.

At the end of last season, Girona officials explored the possibility of playing Champions League matches in Barcelona, ​​either at Barca’s temporary home, the Estadi Lluis Companys, or at Espanyol’s RCDE Stadium. Both have a capacity of over 40,000 spectators and an analysis by Girona estimated that additional ticket sales could generate an additional €4 million.

After much discussion, the Girona board decided that the team should stay in Montilivi. The club wanted to ensure that its most loyal fans and the city could experience top European football in their own home. From a financial perspective, there is also a belief that by playing in Montilivi, the team has a better chance of winning games and therefore recouping the money they would have received by playing in Barcelona.

To meet the demands of the Champions League, UEFA has asked Girona to build a new media area in the stadium. There is also a new press conference room in the basement of the stadium, in a space that used to be the players’ gym. Two temporary tents outside the stadium will become UEFA’s event rooms.

When Girona finally plays its first home game in the competition – it hosts Feyenoord on October 2 – the Montilivi will be the smallest stadium to host a Champions League match open to the public in the last decade.

But first she has to take the first step on her European adventure at PSG.

(Top photo: Alex Caparros/Getty Images)