FILE PHOTO: Soccer Football - Champions League - SK Sturm Graz v Girona - Worthersee Stadion, Klagenfurt, Austria - November 27, 2024 Girona coach Michel before the match REUTERS/Borut Zivulovic/File Photo
(Reuters) - Girona may not have deserved to gain a valuable point in LaLiga after finding themselves 2-0 down at Villarreal on Sunday but the squad's mentality to come away with a hard-earned 2-2 draw was excellent, coach Michel said.
Villarreal looked well set to win all three points and inch closer to league leaders Barcelona but Ladislav Krejci's superb volley deep into added time earned Girona a draw at the Estadio de la Ceramica.
"At 2-0 it was very difficult to draw the game. I don't know if it was deserved but for me it was a great game from both teams," a relieved Michel said.
"(Villarreal coach) Marcelino controlled the tactical aspects and managed to make sure that with just a few touches the opponent hurt us in transition.
"I saw us losing (at 2-0), of course. They have a lot of quality and I thought that it was difficult to get something positive from the game. At 2-0 the team tried, we made it 2-1 and then we got into the game."
The result moved Girona up to seventh in the standings but they have work to do to return to the top four, with Villarreal in fourth place -- four points ahead and with a game in hand.
Michel said climbing up to fourth will be difficult, especially with the Girona's commitments in the Champions League where they are 30th after five games and not yet in contention to qualify for the knockout stage.
"It will be complicated. Villarreal have found the key and with three competitions I don't know if we can reach that level," Michel said.
"They are not far away now with the draw, but they have a game in hand."
Girona have suffered this season with many injuries and there were concerns when Krejci and Miguel Gutierrez were seen limping after the game, but Michel said they had suffered just "bumps and bruises" and would be fine.
(Reporting by Rohith Nair in Bengaluru; editing by Pritha Sarkar)
