Ukrainian striker Artem Dovbyk is justifying with goals the 7.75 million euros that Girona paid for him in the summer, when he became the most expensive signing in the club's history. The center forward - scorer of his team's first goal in this Saturday's victory in Vallecas (1-2) - already has seven goals and has become one of the sensations of the EA Sports LaLiga.
The attacker, 26 years old and 189 centimeters tall, arrived at Montilivi with the guarantee of being the top scorer in the last two editions of his country's league and having scored 29 goals in 39 games last season with Dnipro. 1. And at present he has become one of the pillars of Míchel Sánchez's team, surprise leader of LaLiga EA Sports with 34 points out of a possible 39.
Dovbyk, international for Ukraine, has seven goals and four assists in nine starts and 13 games, in 730 minutes. The numbers say that he scores a goal every 105 minutes and that only Jude Bellingham has scored more times than him to date.
He was key in last week's victory in Pamplona with a goal and two assists (2-4) and in this Saturday's victory against Rayo. In Vallecas, he tied the score in the final stretch of the first half and Sávio Moreira's goal, the final 1-2, came from a rebound by Stole Dimitrievski from his shot.
He has scored four goals in the last four games and is the team's top scorer after the first third of the competition, ahead of Yangel Herrera and Sávio himself (4), as well as Aleix García, Iván Martín and Cristhian Stuani (3).
In the press conference prior to the victory in Vallecas Míchel admitted that it has been meteoric: "He has the language barrier, but with Viktor (Tsygankov) and the kit man, Julius, he is understanding everything we need and how the team's work atmosphere It's very good, it's 100% integrated."
And he added: "The numbers are very good. He is a player we bet on because we knew he was a differential. This season we have taken a step forward with property signings. Dovbyk is a very important player. They are all very important."
In Vallecas, the Ukrainian player scored goal number 30 in LaLiga for Girona, the first team to reach this figure, and paved the way for the fifth comeback in 13 games, the third in the last four, and the sixth consecutive victory as visitors. .
Girona is the third club in the entire history of the tournament capable of achieving six away wins, after Real Madrid and Barcelona. Add 19 points out of 21 away from Montilivi.
The Catalan team has also become the first team capable of adding eleven victories in the first thirteen games without counting Madrid (7 times, champion four times and second three times), Barça (6, champion five times and second once ) and Atlético de Madrid (2, once champion and once third).
They tied against Real Sociedad on the first day, had six wins, lost against Madrid (0-3) in the only game without scoring, and have had six new victories, five in LaLiga and one in the Copa del Rey. They have an advantage of two points over Madrid, ten over Athletic Club, fifth and the first team out of Champions League positions, and up to 27 over relegation.
