Girona vs Barcelona 27/01/19

27 January 2019

Just a few days after being swept aside by Real Madrid in the Copa del Rey quarter-finals, Girona will welcome Barcelona to the Estadio Municipal de Montilivi.

Winless in their last nine matches across all competitions (D5, L4), the encounter with the best Spanish side couldn’t have come at the worse moment for the Blanquivermell. Girona’s woeful defensive crisis will hardly come to an end against the rampant leaders. Not only the Gironistes conceded over 2.5 goals per match in their previous three competitive outings, but they’ve also failed to keep a clean sheet in 13 consecutive games in all competitions. Unlike the defense, the attack has provided a little bit of joy to Girona fans, with Eusebio Sacristan’s men scoring in seven successive games in all competitions while bagging over 1.5 goals per match four times in the process.

Under-strength Barcelona team suffered a 2-0 loss to Sevilla in Copa del Rey in midweek, but a punitive expedition led by Leo Messi is expected to land at the Estadi Montilivi on Sunday. La Liga leaders have racked up a seven-game LL winning run, scoring 21 goals while conceding only two in the process. The Catalans devastating attack has already scored 56 goals in the opening 20 LL outings, which is just four goals less than Atletico Madrid and Real Madrid managed altogether. A more important thing for Ernesto Valverde is that the Blaugrana finally started performing equaly good in defense, keeping a clean sheet in six of their last ten competitive games.