As they welcome Girona of La Liga to the Vitality Stadium on Saturday, Bournemouth will conclude their preseason preparations for the upcoming Premier League season.
Less than twenty-four hours will pass between Girona’s match against Newcastle United at St James’ Park and their trip to the English South Coast.
With the goal of building on the solid foundations set during Andoni Iraola’s first season in charge, Bournemouth will enter the 2024–25 campaign.
In addition to finishing in 12th place with 48 points from 38 games, Iraola’s team set a new club record for the most points in a single top flight season.
The Cherries started their pre-season campaign in the USA, where they drew 1-1 with Wrexham and Arsenal before falling short on penalties against the latter.
Luis Sinisterra’s goal in the first half of Bournemouth’s matchup against Iraola’s former team, Rayo Vallecano, proved to be enough to secure a narrow 1-0 victory, marking the team’s first victory of the preseason.
The Cherries will now want to win another game against a La Liga team in order to develop confidence before playing Nottingham Forest in their Premier League debut.
Girona is now preparing for both their first-ever Champions League debut and the upcoming La Liga season. Last season, they finished in third place.
It was the Catalan team’s fourth season in the top level and they qualified for the Champions League with 81 points from 38 games.
With players like Aleix Garcia, Artem Dovbyk, and Savio departing the team this summer, Michel will have his work cut out for him if he hopes to repeat that accomplishment in 2024–2025.
Ladislav Krejci, Donny van de Beek, Bryan Gil, and Abel Ruiz are among the new players Girona has recruited to their roster.
In the preseason, Girona was not very successful, drawing with Olot, Montpellier, and Espanyol before losing 4-0 to Toulouse. However, they did manage a much-needed 2-0 victory over Napoli in the friendly match played last Saturday.
