Girona swept past fifth-division side Extremadura with a 4-0 win to reach the Copa del Rey second round on Wednesday.

A depleted Girona were missing 13 players due to injuries but had no problems beating lowly Extremadura thanks to a brace by Bojan Miovski and goals from Bryan Gil and Arnau Martinez.

Girona manager Michel had to call up seven academy players for the trip to Badajoz and had more bad news as striker Arnaut Danjuma was forced off with a leg injury.

Gil opened the scoring with a strike from the edge of the box in the 12th minute, however, to ease any concerns for the LaLiga side.

Miovski's header in the 58th minute saw Girona extend their lead and the Macedonian forward scored the third four minutes later before Martinez completed the rout from long range.

Girona head coach Michel was left to rue a lack of attacking options but urged his side to cope with injury absences after Saturday's 1-0 defeat to Real Sociedad.

Last season's surprise package Girona have struggled to find form this campaign, slipping to 13th in the LaLiga standings after their fourth defeat in 10 games.

Mikel Oyarzabal scored the only goal of the game on the stroke of half-time as Girona put in another disappointing performance at home.

Michel lamented his side's depleted attack following injuries to forwards Bryan Gil, Yaser Asprilla and Abel Ruiz.

"We have to keep working, the offensive potential of the team without injured players... you lack depth, you always lose somewhere, we don't have any player on the pitch who can play as a winger," the Spanish manager told reporters.

"We need to improve in our final pass, in our one-on-one determination, to get into the box more. These things are the most difficult thing in football, scoring goals.

"Last year we had a lot of goals, this year it's harder for us."

Fans at Girona's Montilivi stadium expressed their frustration after another underwhelming performance, but Michel backed his players in the face of criticism.

"Fans have to understand the process in which the players are. There is no player, because I would not allow it, that does not give his maximum performance in terms of attitude, mentality, illusion, motivation, energy," he said.

"If they say that we play good or not, I respect that, but we try to play good football and mistakes are part of the game.

"It's not easy, we faced a team with 14 internationals and for the first half hour we tried to go for them... you can't say to any Girona player that they don't give their all for this shirt."

Girona will look to bounce back when they Slovan Bratislava in the Champions League on Tuesday.

Girona earned their first win of the 2024-25 LaLiga campaign in emphatic fashion, beating Osasuna 4-0 at the Estadi Montilivi on Thursday. 

The Blanquivermells had taken one point from their first two league fixtures, but goals from Bryan Gil, Viktor Tsygankov, Abel Ruiz and Cristhian Stuani ensured a comfortable win for Michel's side.

Former Tottenham Hotspur winger Gil opened the scoring in the 34th minute, turning home Tsyhankov's delivery with an acrobatic finish beyond Sergio Herrera.

Tsyhankov increased their advantage eight minutes after the break, neatly turning and finishing into the bottom corner after being picked out by Bojan Miovski inside the area.

The victory was confirmed three minutes later when Ruiz rounded off a fine move with a thunderous finish at Herrera's near post from outside the box. 

Stuani added further gloss to an impressive display in added time, tapping home after being found by new signing Donny van de Beek. 

The result moves Girona up to seventh in the early-season standings ahead of travelling to the Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan Stadium to face Sevilla on Sunday.

Data Debrief: Osasuna's Girona hoodoo continues

Girona have now lost just one of their five LaLiga matches against Osasuna (W3 D1), winning the last three and scoring in all of them, with an average of two goals per game (11 overall).

The Blanquivermells also continued their record of having never lost in their first home game of a league campaign (P5 W3 D2).

Ange Postecoglou has hinted opportunities for his fringe players could be on the horizon ahead of a busy week for Tottenham.

Spurs return to action after the international break with a Monday night clash at home to Fulham and face a quick turnaround with a trip to Crystal Palace four days later.

Yves Bissouma is suspended for the visit of Fulham, which should see Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg earn a first Premier League start this season, and Postecoglou has also urged fit-again Giovani Lo Celso, Bryan Gil and Brennan Johnson to be ready if called upon.

“We’ve got a Monday night game and then we back it up with a Friday night game, so we’ll probably need a good deal of the squad to do those two games,” the Spurs boss explained.

“As good as we’ve been, there are still a few players like Brennan, (Rodrigo) Bentancur, Gil and Lo Celso who haven’t really played at all for us yet.

“Having them back, even in terms of training and raising the level, they are the things that will give us the focus to maintain and keep improving the performances.

“When there is competitiveness around the squad in training and playing, that guards against any complacency or anyone feeling comfortable about things.”

Bentancur is still “weeks” away from returning to first-team action after his anterior cruciate ligament injury in February, but Lo Celso will aim to make an impact over the next week.

Lo Celso was linked with a move away from Tottenham at the start of the summer before Postecoglou made clear his desire to keep the Argentinian, who then sustained a muscle issue in his only start of the campaign at Fulham in the Carabao Cup in August.

The midfielder is fit again now and made substitute appearances for Argentina against Paraguay and Peru during the international break.

Postecoglou said: “He is obviously very highly regarded within the Argentinian set-up because they always call him up and he played in both games.

“He didn’t play significant minutes but he played in both and played 15 to 20 in the second game. It is great for him and his confidence.

“Unfortunately he had a disrupted early part of the season but again another player we haven’t had a contribution from and that’s a pleasing thing for us.”

Postecoglou will hope to see Gil begin to contribute too following his return to full fitness after surgery on his groin in August.

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The Australian admitted Gil’s influence is even more critical with Ivan Perisic (ACL) and Manor Solomon (knee) out until 2024.

“Bryan can be really important for us,” Postecoglou insisted.

“It has been great to have him just working really hard at training. He’s missed all of this season so far and it’s well chronicled that we lost Ivan and Manor, who play in that left-wing position.

“Having Bryan fit and available again is great for us. He’s, I guess, in the same boat as everyone else because at some point he’ll be afforded an opportunity and then it’s up to him.

“He certainly has all the criteria and credentials to play in that position for us and, like I said, his training is getting stronger now, he’s part of the group and I’m sure he’ll get an opportunity.”