Córdoba CF returned to El Arcángel for official competition on Friday night and did so with a clear demand on the scoreboard: first points, first home answer, first sign that the new season can move in the right direction. Girona arrived at 21.00 hours for a meeting that put Iván Ania’s side under immediate pressure to turn the promise of the opening weeks into something measurable.
The name drawing attention inside that story was Víctor Sánchez, the attacking reference again and the player who had won his way into Ania’s plans over the past weeks. He put the mood in one line: “Vengo a hacer al club todavía más grande de lo que ya es.” It was the sort of sentence that fits a home debut because it carries both ambition and weight, and Córdoba need both after starting the campaign without points and sitting in 16th place.
There is reason the search around Cordoba Vs Girona has sharpened now. This was Córdoba’s first official home appearance of the 2026-2027 season, which makes every selection decision feel larger than one match. After the debut at El Plantío against Burgos, Ania was still weighing changes, and the expected shape reflected both caution and necessity: Iker Álvarez as the most likely goalkeeper, Dani Tasende as the only available left-back, Álex Martín as a possible replacement for Juan Gutiérrez in central defense, and Egoitz Muñoz still the main candidate to repeat at right-back.
That right side carries its own story. Daniel Budesca has arrived as a new and promising option for the position, which changes the calculation around Egoitz Muñoz even if it does not erase it. In simple terms, Budesca means the role is no longer written in one hand. Muñoz remains the short-term answer, but the depth chart now has a second name behind him, and that is enough to alter how Ania can manage minutes, pressure and competition over the weeks ahead.
Midfield looked steadier. Isma Ruiz, Eder García and Yussi Diarra left good feelings at El Plantío and were the trio most likely to be trusted again, with Carracedo the leading option on the right wing and Diego Bri and Kevin Medina offering more natural alternatives on the left. Córdoba’s attack still depended on Sánchez, though, and that dependence comes with a familiar problem. The side wants a clean start at home, but the same fragility and scoring issues that showed last season have not disappeared just because the setting changed.
Girona, for its part, came in hurt and trying to rise again after a very chaotic start. That is why the fixture felt urgent on both sides: Córdoba saw a chance to move off 16th place, while Girona needed a reset that would not come by itself. Salim El Jebari was still recovering from pubic discomfort, and Adilson, Jacobo Martí and Fomeyem had no confirmed return date, so Ania’s options were still shaped as much by absence as by choice. The match was supposed to show whether Córdoba’s new project can absorb that load and still produce at home. The next answer will not come from the noise around it, but from whether Ania keeps faith with the same core or finally changes the line that has been waiting for a home reward.
