GIRONA: Ukraine forward Artem Dovbyk scored twice as Girona wrote another chapter of their Cinderella story on Monday with a dominant 3-0 win over Alaves to leapfrog Real Madrid and reclaim top spot in the LaLiga standings.
The lowly Catalan side have forged ahead and sit alone at the top of the standings on 44 points, two ahead of Real Madrid and nine clear of last season’s champions Barcelona in third.
Dovbyk opened the scoring in the 23rd minute with a close-range strike from a rebound off the goalkeeper and Portu extended their lead just before the break with a fine first-time effort from the edge of the box.
Ukrainian Dovbyk scored the third from the penalty spot after Yan Couto was fouled inside the box in the 59th minute.
The win was Girona’s 14th in 17 games, a remarkable run that has fuelled belief that they are equipped to challenge for a maiden title only two seasons after gaining promotion to the top flight.