Catalan minnows stun Real Madrid amid political crisis

Girona earned a shock La Liga victory over Real Madrid that was widely celebrated throughout Catalonia yesterday.

The small Catalan club stunned Madrid, the team of the Spanish establishment, with a 2-1 come-frombehind win — just days after the wealthy northeastern region declared independence to heighten tensions in a dispute with the central government.

Pro-independence politicians were quick to celebrate.

“Girona’s victory over one of the great teams in the world is an example and a reference for many situations,” tweeted Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont.

It was Madrid’s first trip to Catalonia since Spain’s political crisis escalated. The match was played after hundreds of thousands of Catalans took to the streets of Barcelona to voice their opposition to the unilateral declaration of independence. Catalonia’s political leadership was fired by central authorities in Madrid who are trying to tame the worst political turmoil Spain has seen in decades.

“Today, all of Spain and a great part of the world saw that a small team can achieve anything in this great game of football when it does things well, when it has ambition and pride,” Girona coach Pablo Machin said.

The result left Madrid eight points behind Spanish league leader Barcelona, who beat Athletic Bilbao 2-0 yesterday for their ninth victory in 10 league matches.

Second-place Valencia, who won 2-1 at Alaves, are four points off the lead.

“We can still overcome this,” Real Madrid coach Zinedine Zidane said. “We will have better days and our rivals will eventually lose points.”

Napoli reinforced their title credentials by beating Sassuolo 3-1 to move three points clear in Italy’s Serie A yesterday.

Goals from Allan, Jose Callejon and Dries Mertens helped Napoli to their 10th win in 11 matches. Juventus and Lazio, who earlier won 5-1 at Benevento, are tied for second. Inter Milan are two points further back.

Juventus beat AC Milan 2-0 yesterday.

Napoli struggled in the opening stages but took control of the match and even had the luxury of substituting three key players ahead of Thursday’s Champions League match at home to Manchester City.

Ciro Immobile turned from goalscorer to provider as he weighed in with three assists as well as a goal in Lazio’s convincing victory. Immobile set up Bastos and Adam Marusic in the first half, either side of his 14th league goal of the season.

Benevento have lost all 11 of their Serie A matches this season.