Girona vs Barcelona

Estadio Municipal de Montilivi is the venue as mid-table Girona and pacesetters Barcelona go head-to-head in an all-Catalan La Liga match-up.

Ten-man Girona succumbed to a heartbreaking 1-0 defeat at Villarreal last weekend to a 101st-minute penalty, relinquishing a club-record seven-match unbeaten run in La Liga (W3, D4). Before drawing a blank at La Ceramica, ‘Los Blanquivermells’ had enjoyed a club joint-best run of 14 consecutive scoring games in La Liga, so they’ll be confident about troubling the scoreboard. Worryingly, though, Michel’s hopes of posting his first-ever managerial triumph over Barcelona (L3) require Girona to defy their thoroughly abysmal all-time H2H record against their Catalan rivals in La Liga (W1, D3, L13). Indeed, Michel’s men have gone winless in their last three league meetings with Barcelona (D1, L3), conceding 3.2 goals per match on average, including a 2-0 defeat in their most recent top-flight H2H at home.

In the meantime, Barcelona edged ten-man Real Sociedad 1-0 in midweek Copa del Rey action, following up an identical La Liga win over Getafe last weekend to make it 12 straight unbeaten matches in all competitions (W10, D2). Xavi Hernandez’s men have hit the ground running in La Liga since a 3-1 El Clasico defeat at Real Madrid in mid-October, racking up seven wins in their subsequent eight league games (D1) to move three points clear at the top of the standings. Despite the absence of talismanic striker Robert Lewandowski to suspension, the ‘Blaugrana’ can draw confidence from going unbeaten in their last 29 La Liga encounters against fellow Catalan rivals (W21, D8) since losing to Espanyol in 2009.