Barcelona will be aiming to bounce back from successive defeats when they resume their La Liga campaign with a clash against Catalan rivals Girona at Estadi Olimpic Lluis Companys on Saturday afternoon.
Hansi Flick‘s side are second in the La Liga table, two points behind leaders Real Madrid, while Girona occupy 18th, level on points with 17th-placed Real Oviedo ahead of the next set of matches in Spain’s top flight.
Barcelona were stunned by Sevilla before the October international break, suffering a 4-1 defeat at Estadio Ramon, with that result following a 2-1 home loss to Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League.
As a result, there will be pressure on Flick to ensure that the team return to winning ways on Saturday.
Barcelona now have back-to-back home fixtures against Girona and Olympiacos before the small matter of a trip to Bernabeu to face Real Madrid on October 26, and both teams have a number of key players battling to be available for selection in the first Clasico of the 2025-26 campaign.
Barcelona have won seven of their 11 matches against Girona throughout history, while they have scored 35 times, so they average more than three goals per game against their Catalan rivals.
Girona entered the October international break off the back of a 2-1 win over Valencia, with that proving to be the team’s first success of the 2025-26 campaign.
There is no getting away from the fact that it has been a tough start to the season for Michel’s side, but they are now unbeaten in their last three matches and have only lost one of their last five in Spain’s top flight.
Michel will be looking for his side to climb the table in the coming weeks, and the visitors will be aiming to take advantage of Barcelona’s injury situation in this weekend’s match.
Lamine Yamal is back in training after recovering from a groin issue, and the Spaniard is set to be involved, but a start is unlikely, with Barcelona being cautious when it comes to the teenage superstar.
Fermin Lopez is also in line to return from injury on Saturday, but Robert Lewandowski, Raphinha, Dani Olmo, Gavi, Marc-Andre ter Stegen and Joan Garcia are all out of the match through injury.
Barcelona will be missing a whole host of important players for this match, but Girona have availability issues of their own, and we are expecting Flick’s side to return to winning ways on Saturday afternoon.
Credit: sportsmole.co.uk
