PREVIEW: FC Barcelona v Girona

FC Barcelona are back in action on Wednesday at 7.00pm CEST, in the second of three pre-season matches before the first LaLiga fixture against Villarreal in the last weekend of September.

After beating Gimnàstic Tarragona 3-1 at the weekend, and with the Joan Gamper Trophy match coming up on Saturday against Elche (7.00pm CEST), tomorrow brings a friendly with fellow Catalan outfit Girona.

Like the game with Nàstic, it’s being played at the Estadi Johan Cruyff, and behind closed doors due to Covid-19 measures. Don’t forget that the game is being broadcast exclusively live and worldwide, however, on Barça TV+.

The Opposition

Girona, from a city just 100km north of Barcelona, were promoted to La Liga for the first time in 2017.

They finished in an impressive tenth position in their debut season but were relegated the year after that. They very nearly managed to bounce straight back up, but were defeated in the very last moments of their play-off final against Elche, the same side that Barça will be playing in three days’ time.

Previous meetings

La Liga 2017/18
Girona 0-3 Barça
Barça 6-1 Girona

La Liga 2018/19
Barça 2-2 Girona
Girona 0-2 Barça

Supercopa de Catalunya 2019
Girona 1-0 Barça

Aside from the matches listed above, the two teams had only met on one previous occasion: in 1949 in the Copa del Rey Round of 16 match that ended 9-0 in favour of Barça.

Team news

For the game with Nàstic, Ronald Koeman opted to field completely different XIs in the first and second half.

He's likely to go for something similar here in order to give all of his squad the chance to warm-up for the start of competition, and also to get a closer look at his different options for the year ahead.