Girona vs Barcelona Prediction: Back both teams to Score 2+

Barcelona head into this Catalan Derby on Saturday tea-time knowing that depending on Real's result earlier in the day, this could well be the day that the title heads back to the capital depending on the result here.

Our Spanish Football expert Mark Sochon thinks that this will be a thoroughly entertaining game, live on ITV4 from 17:30 and that betting on the goals market could well be profitable. Read more of his Girona vs Barcelona predictions in his full match preview...

The Catalan derby between Girona and Barcelona takes centre stage on Saturday in La Liga. It’s a fixture that will go a long way to determining who finishes second in the Spanish top flight and may even confirm the destination of the title.

Assuming Real Madrid take care of business against Cádiz earlier on Saturday, Barcelona will need to win this game to retain a mathematical shot at the title heading into next weekend.

Realistically though, they know their title defence is already over and this game largely comes down to a matter of local pride with the Catalan clubs on course for second and third place finishes.

While Girona have faded quite badly away from home over the past couple of months, it is worth taking a step back and recognising what an extraordinary season they are still having.

This is just their fourth ever top flight campaign and they’ve never previously finished higher than 10th. The first ever Catalan derby between these clubs in league football was as recently as the 2017/18 season and the reality is that many Girona fans also support Barcelona, with the assumption being that they’d never end up at a level where they could seriously expect to compete with their giant neighbours.

They did more than compete when the sides met earlier this term. A brilliant performance from Míchel’s side saw them slice open Barcelona at will at times and leave the Estadi Olímpic with a historic 4-2 win.

They’ve never previously scored or taken points off Barça in La Liga at the Estadi Montilivi, but they’ll certainly fancy their chances of changing that on Saturday evening.

Girona head into the game following back-to-back victories over Cádiz and Las Palmas to all but seal Champions League qualification. It feels like they’ve reemerged following the first real wobble in an otherwise brilliant season, with five straight away defeats ending their title dream.

However, even during that period, they’ve continued to mostly play well at Montilivi where they average an impressive 2.56 points and 2.63 goals per game in La Liga this term.

That gives you an idea of the task facing Barcelona on Saturday but Xavi’s side can take confidence from having avoided defeat in all but one of their away games this season in the league. That solitary loss came in El Clásico a fortnight ago and came in controversial fashion, with Barça convinced they were denied a goal by La Liga’s failure to implement goal-line technology.

It’s still five wins out of six overall for Barcelona in the league though after they came from behind to beat Valencia on Monday night. It was a sloppy performance until the break with an uncharacteristic error from Marc-André ter Stegen gifting Los Che a goal, but the game turned after visiting keeper Giorgi Mamardashvili was sent off just before the break.

The Catalans came out firing after the interval, with a pumped up Robert Lewandowski scoring a Second Half hat-trick to spare Xavi’s blushes in the first game following his big U-turn decision to continue as Barça boss.

Team News:

Girona’s regular starters all look set to be available for this game, but they have injury concerns over a number of fringe players. Back-up striker Christian Stuani and midfielders Borja García and Jhon Solis are expected to be unavailable.

The hosts have two players on loan from their local rivals. Eric García is available to face his parent club but Pablo Torre is not due to differing terms in their respective loan contracts.

Barcelona are missing Frenkie de Jong, Gavi and Alejandro Balde once more with only the latter likely to feature for the club again this season. They also have a doubt over forward Vitor Roque, although the young Brazilian has found opportunities limited in any case.

Girona vs Barcelona Odds

*Please click on the link above to be taken to the main Giroina vs Barcelona page on betfred.com (or app) for all the live betting prices on this match.

There’s not much to separate the teams in the Match Result market with Barcelona the slight favourites at 7/5 while you can back Girona at 7/4. The Draw is priced at 11/4.

Just about all the stats and indicators heading into this match suggest we will get goals and potentially plenty of them. That’s reflected in the markets with Both Teams to Score priced at 4/11 while Over 3.5 Goals is on offer at Evens.

If you fancy a repeat of the wide open, six-goal thriller when the sides met in Barcelona back in December, you can back Over 5.5 Goals at 5/1 while Girona and Both Teams to Score is priced 11/4.

A repeat 4-2 scoreline in favour of Girona looks long at 40/1 while you can go the other way and back Barcelona to win 4-2 for the second time this week at 33/1.

La Liga top scorer Artem Dovbyk is the 4/1 favourite to score first, while the Ukraine international is available 21/20 to score anytime.

Bet 1 - Both Teams to Score 2 or More Goals @ 9/4

This has the potential to be an absolute cracker as both sides are likely to target the victory and both teams are much more effective going forwards than they are defensively.

Barça had been on an improved run in terms of keeping clean sheets, but they’ve made far too many mistakes in recent games, conceding nine in their last three matches in all competitions. A free-scoring Girona side are certainly capable of exploiting that, but there are sure to be opportunities for the visitors too with Lamine Yamal, Raphinha and Robert Lewandowski all looking sharp.

I can see this being another high-scoring affair between these two and I’m backing Both Teams to Score 2 or More Goals at 9/4 which has been a winning bet in Barça’s last two league matches.

Bet 2 - Robert Lewandowski to Score Anytime @ 23/20

Robert Lewandowski has received criticism at various points in his Barcelona career and it has often been fair criticism as there have been long periods when he hasn’t convinced. However the suggestion that he’s finished as a top level striker may be just a little premature and he was absolutely outstanding on Monday night as he tore into Valencia with a Second Half hat-trick.

The veteran striker is now on 16 goals in La Liga as a result, three behind Dovbyk in the Pichichi race. He’s one man who shouldn’t be lacking motivation over the final few weeks as he aims to finish as the division’s top scorer for the second season running and I’m backing Robert Lewandowski to score anytime at 23/20 here.

You can check out Mark's La Liga Betting Tips along with those from the rest of the Betfred Insights Spanish Football writers on our La Liga home page...