🎥 'New’ Catalan Derby to debut in Camp Nou | OneFootball

For the first time in history, Girona will play Barcelona at Camp Nou in a La Liga match.

The previous eight Catalan clubs that visited Barça’s current home ground for the first time (league or cup), ended up losing.

And except for UE Sant Andreu’s debut in which they lost by a close 1-0 result, Barcelona ended up winning by at least two goals against everyone else. The match is being deemed as a ‘New’ Derby, but if it’s anything like the other Catalan Derbies in which Barça are involved, it’s going to be a very one sided match.

On the flip side, Girona have been quite impressive so far in its first ever La Liga campaign, currently sitting in a comfortable eighth place, far away from the relegation battle.

“It’s a derby and they are having a terrific season. They are a newly promoted side and are without doubt the surprise package of the league,” said Barcelona boss, Ernesto Valverde.

Girona are also the team that have scored the highest percentage of goals within the first 20 minutes of the match. And despite losing at home against Barcelona earlier in the season, they did manage to keep Lionel Messi off the score sheet.

Which also means that Messi, who scored for the first time against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge on Tuesday, now has the chance to score against another club he has never scored against in back-to-back games.

Notably, only the Uruguayan strikers on each side know what it’s like to score against their upcoming rival. Luis Suárez netted the only non-own goal in the 3-0 victory over Girona, and Christian Stuani is the only player on Girona’s roster to have scored against Barcelona (he did it playing for Levante back in 2011).

Both teams are lining up with their stronger sides, minus Andrés Iniesta.