FC Barcelona have collected all 12 points from their first four Liga games, but Sunday brings perhaps the biggest test so far. The short trip up the road for the 4.15pm CEST kick-off is the first this season against one of the other sides that is playing in the 2024/35 Champions League that gets started in just a few days' time.

Barça travel to Monaco on Thursday, while the day before Girona have a glamorous start to their first ever European campaign when they visit PSG at the Parc des Princes.

It's the first time ever that Catalonia has two teams competing in Europe's premier club competition. And last season's encounters between the sides were unquestionably fabulous adverts for football in this part of the world, producing six goals each. Sadly, however, on both occasions it was Girona who ended up taking the points, both times by 4-2 scorelines, having never won this derby encounter before.

But a lot has changed since those games. For a start, Barça now have a new manager, Hansi Flick, and under the German they have yet to drop a point in a competitive fixture.

New-look Girona

Girona, meanwhile, are a much-changed side. As happens so often when a less glamorous club has such a stunning season as they did, ending up an unprecedented third in the table, a number of their stars have been snapped up by other sides. Those include the man who topped the Liga goalscoring rankings, Artem Dovbyk (Roma) and also Aleix Garcia (Bayer Leverkusen), while loanees Savinho (Manchester City), Yan Couto (Borussia Dortmund), Eric García and Pablo Torre (Barça) have all returned to their parent clubs.

But others have come in their place. The rearguard has been bolstered by goalkeeper Pau López and defenders Francés and Krejci, while going forward they have brought in a tasty-looking combination of experience (Van de Beek, Bryan Gil, Danjuma and Abel Ruiz) and young promises (Miovski, Misehouy and Yasser Asprilla). They have also acquired Oriol Romeu on loan from Barça, but he is ineligible for this game due to a 'fear clause' included in the deal.

Perhaps most importantly, the mastermind behind last season's exploits, coach Míchel, is still there. He faced a difficult job getting all those new faces to combine into a coherent unit, and the first two games of Girona's season reflected that. But a 4-0 trouncing of Osasuna and an impressive 2-0 win away to Sevilla in their last two outings have silenced the critics who suggested that last season's exploits were a one-off. Girona clearly intend to keep the party going...