BARCELONA: The lowest point of Barcelona's trophyless campaign last season was when they were beaten not once, but twice, by the formerly modest Girona.
Girona handed Barcelona a pair of stinging 4-2 defeats as the club, partly owned by Manchester City's Abu Dhabi ownership, emerged as one of the surprise packages of European football.
Girona finished La Liga in third place, just behind Barcelona in second, and qualified for the Champions League for the first time.
Those embarrassing losses to a fellow Catalan club contributed to the downfall of Xavi Hernández as Barcelona’s coach.
Barcelona is now under new management, Hansi Flick, and will visit a new-look Girona on Sunday, aiming to make it five wins in as many games under the German coach.
Flick has a team with some important changes, led by the arrival of a more dynamic Dani Olmo, who replaced the departed Ilkay Gündogan.
Olmo, fresh from helping Spain win the European Championship, has fit right in with the club he belonged to as a youth player.
Olmo scored in his first two games for Barcelona before the international break and is excelling as their interior attacking midfielder, flanked by Spain's teenage phenom Lamine Yamal and an in-form Raphinha.
The 36-year-old Robert Lewandowski, twice the age of Yamal, has made a superb start under Flick, who coached him at Bayern Munich where they won the Champions League.
The Poland striker has four goals in as many rounds, leading La Liga.
The only downside to Barcelona's start has been the injuries in midfield.
Frenkie de Jong has yet to return since an injury caused him to miss Euro 2024 with the Netherlands.
Gavi Páez is still recovering from a serious leg injury, and youngster Marc Bernal, who had impressed under Flick, will miss the rest of the season after rupturing an ACL.
However, this Girona is not the same as the one that outplayed Barcelona.
After making a splash on the European stage, the club lost several of its best players over the summer.
Artem Dovbyk, the league's top scorer last season, left for Roma.
Explosive winger Savinho moved to Manchester City, right-back Yan Couto went to Borussia Dortmund, and midfielder Aleix Garcia joined Xabi Alonso's Bayer Leverkusen.
Barcelona has recovered two players on loan, defender Éric García and midfielder Pablo Torres, while one player has gone the other way: Holding midfielder Oriol Romeu was sent back to Girona a year after they signed him.
Girona, importantly, retained coach Míchel Sánchez and other key players such as Miguel Gutiérrez, Iván Martín, and Daley Blind.
They also brought in forwards Abel Ruíz, Bryan Gil, and Arnaut Danjuma, along with Manchester United midfielder Donny van de Beek.
Girona has demonstrated it can still click in attack with a 4-0 win over Osasuna and a 2-0 win at Sevilla in the previous two rounds. Real Madrid will play at Real Sociedad on Saturday. They are in second place, four points behind leader Barcelona.