Girona vs Osasuna

Estadio Municipal de Montilivi is the venue as Girona take on Osasuna in their opening home match of the 2024/25 La Liga season.

Girona fell victim to last season’s success during the summer, losing numerous first-team stars, which inspired the club’s best-ever third-place La Liga finish in 2023/24. Michel’s men have yet to win a league game this term, drawing 1-1 with Real Betis in the opening round before slipping to a 3-0 loss at Atletico Madrid over the weekend. Adapting to life after Artem Dovbyk is a mammoth task for Girona, but they’ll be optimistic about returning to the win column against Osasuna – one of the nine teams they defeated home and away in La Liga last season. Since their first two league matches came outside Estadio Municipal de Montilivi, the impending home return is another mitigating factor for Girona, given they only lost twice in 19 top-flight outings at this venue in 2023/24 (W15, D2, L2).

In the meantime, Osasuna’s decision to part with long-serving manager Jagoba Arrasate after an 11th-place finish last season has paid dividends in the early 2024/25 campaign. New manager Vicente Moreno has enjoyed a two-game unbeaten league start at the beginning of his managerial tenure (W1, D1), increasing his chances of defying a disappointing recent record against Girona. He’s lost three of his last four matches against the Catalan outfit as manager (D1). Perhaps it’s time for a change of scenery, with Osasuna winning their opening away league game in four of the last five seasons (L1). Or maybe not, given they’ve gone winless on their eight previous visits to Catalonia in La Liga (D3, L5).