The hosts began encouragingly, as they pursued their first victory over Getafe since December 2017, with on-loan Atletico Madrid winger Rodrigo Riquelme testing David Soria’s reflexes less than two minutes into proceedings.
The newly-promoted Girona subsequently dominated the first half-hour, though they were indebted to the underside of the crossbar when Yangel Herrera’s attempted clearance cannoned back off the woodwork just before the 30th minute, with Juan Carlos rooted helplessly to the spot.
While Girona was thankful for their luck on that occasion, they regrouped and took a deserved lead three minutes before the break, when Stuani’s strike deflected favourably off Djene, leaving Soria with no chance of preventing Girona from going 1-0 up.
Clearly in no mood to sit back, the hosts were then given a further advantage two minutes after the restart, when a cross inadvertently struck Duarte in the face, sending the ball into Getafe’s gaping net.
Staring defeat in the face, the visitors faced further humiliation when referee Alejandro Muniz Ruiz awarded a penalty after Duarte had tangled with Stuani.
The visitors were given a reprieve by the intervention of VAR, but they also felt the sharp end of technological scrutiny shortly after that incident, when an Enes Unal goal was struck off for a foul in the build-up.
However, the visitors’ misery was compounded further in the 64th minute, when Valentin Castellanos exquisitely lifted the ball over the onrushing Soria.
The game was now truly up for Getafe, but unal was clearly not deterred by his earlier disallowed effort, and he set up an intriguing final quarter-hour after letting loose a fearsome strike that flew into the top corner, giving him his first goal against Girona since November 2017.
Girona would have been disappointed to miss out on a first LaLiga clean sheet since April 2019, but they calmly manoeuvred a passage through to the full-time whistle – in the midst of Getafe player Fabrizio Angileri being dismissed – to subsequently extend their unbeaten head-to-head record at the Estadio Municipal de Montilivi to five matches.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Cristhian Stuani (Girona)
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