Five key stats ahead of Barcelona vs Girona

Barcelona will have a great chance to extend their lead atop the La Liga standings to 15 points when they lock horns with Catalan rivals Girona FC at Spotify Camp Nou later tonight.

Following Real Madrid’s slip-up against Villarreal over the weekend, the Blaugrana have been presented with an excellent opportunity to take a major stride toward lifting the league crown.

Despite losing their last game 0-4 to Real Madrid in the Copa del Rey semi-final second leg, Barcelona will go into tonight’s game against Michel’s men as the favourites.

After all, Barcelona have never lost a single game against Girona in their history across all competitions (P6 W5 D1).

Furthermore, the Blaugrana’s record at home this season has been exceptional, especially in La Liga.

Indeed, Barça have not lost a single of their 13 league matches at Camp Nou this season (W11 D2). They are one among only three teams to have not lost a game on their home turf in the top five leagues in Europe.

Most of Barcelona’s success this season has been built on their rock-solid defence and the brilliant form of Marc-Andre ter Stegen between the sticks.

The league leaders have kept the most clean sheets in La Liga this season (20). Meanwhile, their opponents Girona have managed the lowest number of shutouts (1).

Furthermore, if Ter Stegen goes on to secure another clean sheet tonight, he will go past two legendary Barcelona goalkeepers for the most shutouts in a single season – Andoni Zubizarreta (20 in 1988/89) and Victor Valdés (20 in 2004/05 and 2009/10).

But, Barcelona will need to be wary of the threat posed by Girona striker Cristhian Stuani, who more often than not, rises to the occasion in big games.

Stuani has scored 58% of Girona’s goals in La Liga against the two top teams – Barcelona and Real Madrid (seven out of 12). Of those seven, five have come against Los Blancos and two versus the Blaugrana.