A lively start to the day’s LaLiga action saw Girona craft the first chance of note, with Bryan Gil firing towards the bottom-right corner in just the second minute of play, only for Diego Conde to thwart him.
Villarreal didn’t take long to muster some chances of their own though, and Conde would soon be upstaged by Paulo Gazzaniga at the other end, with the former Spurs stopper defying Logan Costa’s low close-range header.
Villarreal continued to probe from there and finally made the breakthrough 22 minutes in. A long ball upfield to the left flank allowed Sergi Cardona and Alex Baena to combine and cross in for Yeremy Pino to plant a header on goal.
He could only find the post, but the rebound fell to Thierno Barry, who fired in at close range for his first non-headed goal of the campaign. He might also have doubled his tally soon after but fired just wide of the post after receiving a pass on the edge of the box.
Girona came close to an equaliser in first-half stoppage time, as a squared ball from Gil to Miguel Gutierrez inside the box saw the latter fire high towards the near corner and force Conde into a reflex save.
The visitors would rue that missed opportunity moments after the interval, when Pino found Baena with a clever pass inside the box, allowing him to unleash an unstoppable effort high into the Girona net.
Villarreal were fancied to see the game out, but a twist would come as the three-quarter mark loomed. Conde punched an inswinging corner away, but a wild shot from Donny van de Beek on the ‘D’ deflected off Cardona and into the net to halve the visitors’ deficit, duly making this match the 12th in Villarreal’s last 14 to see both teams score.
Girona sensed the comeback was on, and Cristhian Stuani fired just over the bar late on when the ball fell to him quickly, as Villarreal became increasingly nervy.
Denis Suárez could have put the game beyond all doubt as he charged goalwards and fired in low, but too close to Gazzaniga. And after Stuani saw a goal disallowed for a marginal offside in the final minute of normal time, the sixth of eight added on saw Girona break Villarreal’s hearts, when Stuani headed back to the edge of the box for Ladislav Krejci to fire in on the volley past an unsighted Conde.
That sealed this fixture’s very first LaLiga stalemate from nine, with Villarreal now vulnerable to being caught level on points by Athletic Bilbao later on.