One of the worst things any young soccer player could feel is not feeling wanted by the club of his dreams, and that is the story of Valery Fernandez. As a talented youngster, Valery had stints at clubs like Palamos and Girona, reveling in their youth teams before Barcelona came calling in 2011.
This was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for the L’Escala-born defender to be a part of Barcelona’s famed La Masia youth setup. He was released three years later, with Girona snapping him up again. In the top-of-the-table clash between the two sides yesterday, Valery Fernandez got one over the side that didn’t believe in him as a youngster, as his goal helped Girona beat Barcelona 4-2.
Amazing backstory of Valery Fernandez’s goal vs Barcelona
It’s a pretty normal thing in soccer to see a player score against his old side, but it’s always extra special if there’s a little feeling of redemptive justice about it. Valery Fernandez spent three years at Barcelona’s La Masia academy, the same place that produced players like Lionel Messi, Andres Iniesta, Cesc Fabregas, Gerard Pique, Xavi, Mauro Icardi, and many more.
Unlike the aforementioned players, with the exception of Icardi, Valery Fernandez never got a chance to make it into the first team after being released by the club in 2014 at the age of 15. This must have been tough on the teenager, who crawled back to Girona after his release.
Fernandez’s return to Girona wasn’t all smooth sailing. The youngster had to move to lower division sides like his native L’Escala and another stint at Peralda before working his way into Girona’s first team in 2018.
He has since made almost a century appearances for the La Liga league leaders, with his goal helping the unlikely title contenders beat Barcelona 2-4 to help establish a 7-point lead over Xavi’s men.
Girona leads La Liga points ahead of Real Madrid and Barcelona
Nobody would have predicted Girona’s unlikely top spot in La Liga at the start of the season, but the Catalan club has defied the odds, winning 13 of their 16 La Liga games, drawing two and losing just once against Real Madrid earlier in the season. This is mainly due to their shrewd signings, including Brazilian Savinho, who is a potential target for Man City.
Girona went into the Barcelona clash as the underdog despite its impressive start to the season. The Catalan side quickly took the lead against Xavi’s men in the 12th minute through Artem Dovbyk. As expected, Barcelona leveled up very quickly, with Robert Lewandowski silencing his doubters in the 19th minute.
Girona scored again five minutes before half-time to make Xavi’s half-time speech a little difficult. The league leaders held on to their lead until the 80th minute when Valery Fernandez took the game beyond reasonable doubt by scoring Girona’s third goal. Although Barca threatened a late push when Gundogan scored to make it 3-2, Girona put the game to bed two minutes later when they scored their fourth through captain Stuani.
Before the encounter, Xavi had claimed Girona could win the league, and the fairytale continued against his side yesterday. The league leaders are now two points clear of Real Madrid and seven ahead of Barcelona.
