Girona vs Barcelona Prediction: Home side can score in Catalan Derby

It isn't just the North London Derby on Sunday afternoon as we have a Catalan one as well, with a kick-off time set for 15:15 and live on Premier Sports 1.

Our La Liga Betting Expert has a couple of Bet Builder doubles lined-up as he previews the action and takes us through his Girona vs Barcelona Predictions...

There’s a big Catalan derby on Sunday afternoon and it’s surely the biggest game so far in the 2024/25 season of La Liga. 

It features a Barcelona side that is setting the pace and looking very sharp under new boss Hansi Flick with four wins out of four. They are up against a Girona side that did the double over their illustrious neighbours last term, with two thrilling 4-2 victories. 

The first meeting of the new campaign promises to be a great spectacle again, but there have been some significant changes at both clubs since they last met. 

While Barça opted for change in the dugout, with Flick replacing Xavi, Girona were forced into a much more active summer in the transfer market than they might have liked. 

Four loan deals ran out, meaning key winger Savio and starting right-back Yan Couto, as well as Barcelona duo Eric García and Pablo Torre left the club. They also raised close to €50m with the sales of top scorer Artem Dovbyk and midfielder Aleix García alone, as the spine of last season’s team was ripped apart. 

The recruitment team responded with no fewer than 11 new signings as Girona also gear up for their debut European campaign which commences with a daunting Champions League trip to PSG on Wednesday. 

The early signs were not promising for this new-look Girona side. They struggled at Real Betis in their opening match, but came away with a decent point, before losing 3-0 away against Atlético Madrid. 

Something clicked on matchday three though. At the Estadi Montilivi for the first time this season, they were utterly dominant against Osasuna, running out 4-0 winners with new signings Bryan Gil and Abel Ruiz on the scoresheet.  

Ruiz, a member of Spain’s gold medal winning Olympic team, struck again last time out as Girona triumphed 2-0 at Sevilla, to send Míchel and his side into the international break with seven points on the board. That’s a really positive return given the extent of the changes to a squad that stunned Spanish football last season. 

This will unquestionably be the biggest test yet for Girona this term, but the same could be said of Barcelona who head into matchday five with the only remaining 100% record in the division. 

The first five halves of football they played were not utterly convincing. Rocked by injuries and the inability to do much in the transfer market, they ground out 2-1 wins over Valencia and Athletic Club, before falling behind in Vallecas in their third match against bogey team Rayo. Since the interval in that game, Barça have been really impressive though.  

It’s perhaps no coincidence that they’ve been producing their best football since the introduction of new signing Dani Olmo, who came off the bench to inspire a 2-1 comeback win over Rayo. He was also heavily involved in the 7-0 demolition of Real Valladolid last time out, with the impressive Raphinha scoring a hat-trick as the newly promoted side were swept aside at the Estadi Olímpic Lluís Companys. 

It’s certainly a case of so far, so good for Flick era Barça with the Catalan giants already playing with more intensity than we saw last season. The German appears to have quickly settled on a preferred system and injuries mean the eleven largely picks itself right now, with the problem holding midfield role perhaps the only doubt again. 

Team News: 

The visitors are currently missing six players to injury. Ronald Araújo and Marc Bernal aren’t expected back until 2025, while Gavi, Andreas Christensen, Frenkie de Jong and Fermín López are unlikely to feature in a testing week that also sees Flick take his team to Monaco and Villarreal following this game. 

Ansu Fati is another fitness concern, but Barcelona do have the option of naming the same eleven that fired in seven goals in their last match. If there’s to be a change, it could be that we see Eric García introduced in a midfield role against the club he represented last term. 

As for Girona, they are doing much better on the fitness front with no notable injuries right now. Míchel will be forced into at least one change though, with loanee Oriol Romeu ineligible to take on his parent club. 

That could potentially spark a shift in formation with new signings Arnaut Danjuma and Bojan Miovski options in attack, should they go with a 4-4-2. 

Girona vs Barcelona Odds

Girona are priced at 3/1 to make it three wins on the spin against their Catalan rivals. You can back Barcelona to extend their 100% start to the season at 4/5, while the Draw is priced at 3/1. 

If you see history repeating itself, Girona are a huge 66/1 to win 4-2 again, while you can back both teams to score two or more goals in this match at 11/4. 

The expectation is certainly that it should be an open affair. Over 3.5 Goals is on offer at 6/5, while you can back Over 1.5 Home Team Goals at 6/4. Over 1.5 Away Team Goals is available at 4/7. 

Robert Lewandowski has scored four in four so far this term and he leads the way in the goalscorer markets. You can back the veteran striker to score first at 4/1, while he’s on offer at Evens to score anytime. 

There are plenty of other in-form attacking players in this game though. Fresh from a hat-trick, Raphinha is 15/8 to score anytime, while you can back wonderkid Lamine Yamal to get on the scoresheet at 12/5. Abel Ruiz, hoping to score for the third game in a row, is priced at 2/1 to score anytime for the hosts. 

*You can check out all of the Football Odds we offer over at betfred.com

Bet 1 - Girona to score over 0.5 goals & Girona over 3.5 corners @ 11/8 

Girona showed last season that they don’t fear anybody and will still look to play on the front foot in even the toughest of fixtures. With Flick playing a slightly more aggressive and higher paced brand of football than his predecessor, everything points to this being a good watch. 

There were genuine fears that things may fall apart quite badly for Girona this season given the number of key departures. However, their last two performances strongly suggest that they are capable of competing in the top six again and they ought to give Barça their toughest test of the season to date. 

While they were dominant last time out, Flick’s side did concede six corners in each of their previous two games and they’d not kept a clean sheet until the Real Valladolid game. I expect the hosts to be competitive and am using the Bet Builder to back Girona to score over 0.5 goals and Girona over 3.5 corners at 11/8. 

Bet 2 - Dani Olmo 2+ shots & Abel Ruiz 2+ shots @ 17/20 

Registration delays mean Dani Olmo has only spent 127 minutes on the pitch as a Barcelona player, but he’s already had nine shots, scoring twice for his new club. He looks to have real freedom in this system to operate in the number 10 role and get plenty of attempts away. 

Another new arrival in La Liga who has made an immediate impact is Girona’s Abel Ruiz. The Spaniard looks the most natural replacement for Dovbyk who won last season’s Pichichi. While Ruiz may struggle to match his goal return, he’s averaging 2.5 shots per game so far and will be confident after netting in his last two matches. 

I expect both players to have big roles to play here and I’m using the Bet Builder again to back Dani Olmo 2+ shots and Abel Ruiz 2+ shots at 17/20. 

Mark Sochon primarily covers Spanish Football for us at Betfred Insights. 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...