Atletico Madrid vs Girona Preview & Prediction | 2024-25 Spanish Primera
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Last season, Girona managed to finish above Atletico Madrid and it was their highest ever league finish with Atletico finishing outside of the top three in La Liga for the first time in the Diego Simeone era.
KICK-OFF DATE/TIME: Sunday 25th August, 2024 - UK – 8:30pm / US ET – 3:30pm / US PT – 12:30pm
HOW TO WATCH ON TV: UK – Premier Sports / US – ESPN have the exclusive rights to La Liga games in the USA, so Atletico Madrid vs Girona may be televised on one of their affiliated channels
HOW TO WATCH ONLINE: UK – Premier Sports / US – ESPN+
ATLETICO MADRID PREVIEW: REVOLUTION OF LOS ROJIBLANCOS
Diego Simeone seemingly tried to evolve the style of football at Atletico Madrid at the start of last season with a lot more goals coming in their matches and that sort of style continued last weekend as they shared a 2-2 draw on the opening day of the season at El Madrigal against Villarreal.
All four goals in that game came in the first-half of that match with Arnaud Danjuma opening the scoring after 18 minutes before Marcos Llorente equalised just two minutes later. Koke then scored an own goal for Atletico in the 37th minute but former Villarreal man Alexander Sorloth equalised deep into first-half stoppage-time.
GIRONA PREVIEW: TRICKY SITUATION FOR MICHEL
In just their fifth ever season in the Spanish top-flight, Girona, part of the City Football Group, finished third in the table and qualified for the UEFA Champions League. However, for a second successive summer, Girona have lost several key players over the summer including Aleix Garcia, Savio and Artem Dovbyk.
The Catalans’ boss, Michel, has already discussed the difficulties that this season may well have, especially with UEFA Champions League football, but they managed to earn a point at the Benito Villamarin in Seville last weekend against Real Betis with new signing Gabriel Misehouy scoring a late equaliser.
ATLETICO MADRID TEAM NEWS: FINDING A FORMULA
Diego Simeone is expected to remain without Samu Omorodion and Thomas Lemar but neither for injury issues as the two players try and sort moves away from the Metropolitano before the end of the summer transfer window.
Atletico’s big spending summer saw two new signings, Alexander Sorloth and Robin Le Normand, starting with Julian Alvarez on the bench and being on the bench is likely be how Conor Gallagher starts after he arrived from Chelsea this week.
PREDICTED XI (3-4-2-1): Oblak; Cesar Azpilicueta, Witsel, Le Normand; Marcos Llorente, Pablo Barrios, Koke, Reinildo; Griezmann, Julian Alvarez; Sorloth
UNAVAILABLE:
QUESTIONABLE:
GIRONA TEAM NEWS: THE NEW GIRONA
There are some similarities in Gabriel Misehouy and Savio’s respective arrivals at Girona with the latter a part of the PSV B team before he joined, whilst Misehouy has been plucked from Jong Ajax, too, and it will be interesting to see if he finds his way into the eleven.
Aside from that dilemma for Michel, he remains without long-term absentees Ricard Arteroo and Jastin Garcia, whilst Manu Vallejo is suffering from illness and Ukraine international Viktor Tsygankov is also out injured.
PREDICTED XI (4-3-3): Paolo Gazzaniga; Arnau Martinez, David Lopez, Blind, Miguel Gutierrez; Yangel Herrera, Oriol Romeu, Ivan Martin; Bryan Gil, Abel Ruiz, Portu
UNAVAILABLE: Ricard Artero (Injured), Jastin Garcia (Injured)
QUESTIONABLE: Manu Vallejo (Illness), Tsygankov (Injured)
ATLETICO MADRID VS GIRONA PREDICTION
With Atletico Madrid evolving their style and therefore losing a bit of their defensive solidity but finally bringing in effective attacking signings to go alongside the likes of Angel Correa, Antoine Griezmann and Samuel Lino; they could well be a fun watch again this season. Girona have been one of the most entertaining teams anywhere in Europe for a couple of seasons now, too, so whilst the expectation is Atleti win at the Metropolitano, it should be a game worth watching.
ATLETICO MADRID VS GIRONA TIP: BOTH TEAMS TO SCORE
