Girona manager Michel Sanchez confirms five key absences for Arsenal clash | OneFootball

Girona may already be out of the Champions League, but that does mean that Wednesday’s final league phase match against Arsenal is a dead rubber. With it being at Montilivi, there will also be an extra desire for the Catalans to pick up their second victory in the competition, after Slovan Bratislava in October.

However, it will be far from easy for Girona, as head coach Michel Sanchez has confirmed in his pre-match press conference (via Diario AS) that he will be without several key players for the visit of the Premier League giants.

“The absentees are Krejci, Blind, Gazzaniga and Miguel due to injury. Plus Bryan Gil due to suspension. The rest are all fine, ready for the match.

“The problem will be in the left back position, that’s it. Arnau (Martinez) can play there, (Alejandro) Frances already did it in Vallecas. Then Selvi can also play or we can go with three centre-backs because Antal (Yaakobishvili) has come with us. This decision has already been made, but tomorrow we will see.”

Michel is looking forward to Girona’s final Champions League match of the season (Photo by EDDY KELELE / Diario AS)

There may no longer be any change of qualification for Girona after last week’s defeat to AC Milan, but there is still plenty of pride at stake for Michel and his players.

“For us there are very important objectives for tomorrow. It’s a Champions League match that we want to win after three defeats in a row. Our goal is that image is very important, prestige and being able to maintain it. We deserved to be in Europe and it’s very important to play a good game. Winning in the Champions League is very important. And we also have to look at it because next year it would be possible for a fifth Spanish team to be in the Champions League. You always have to win for the competition, for us, our fans… We play for our people and we need the best possible game.”