The Catalan club will host Girona at Camp Nou on a Monday for the first time in the 2022-2023 campaign. FC Barcelona is pushing to solidify its position at the top of La Liga, with matchday 28 scheduled for Monday, April 10, 2023. A win would extend the lead at the summit to 15 points, a height the Catalans have yet to reach against Girona in any official meeting.
Why is Barcelona vs Girona scheduled on Monday in La Liga’s 2022-2023 season? This marks the first Monday of the current campaign for Xavi Hernández’s squad, though Mondays aren’t brand-new to Barca. Teams involved in European competitions usually skip Monday fixtures, but Barcelona had already been eliminated from the Europa League. La Liga seized the opportunity to place the Catalan derby on Easter Monday, a holiday in Catalonia, inviting maximum attention and attendance.
The last Monday fixture for Barça came on March 15, 2021, when the Blaugrana beat Huesca 4-1. On that day, Lionel Messi scored twice, with Antoine Griezmann and Óscar Mingueza also finding the net. Rafa Mir substituted in for Huesca. Barça’s most recent Monday league clash before that was a 1-1 draw against Granada in September 2021.
Before the 2021 encounter with Huesca, Barça hadn’t played a league game on a Monday since August 29, 2011, against Villarreal. A different Monday fixture occurred on August 17, 2015, though it was a Super Cup Spain match, ending 1-1 against Athletic Bilbao. The 2011 Villarreal game finished 5-0 for Barça, with goals from Thiago Alcántara, Cesc Fàbregas, Alexis Sánchez, and a Messi brace. The previous season featured a famous Monday league game—Camp Nou’s Clasico against Real Madrid, a 5-0 annihilation where Guardiola’s squad overwhelmed Mourinho’s side with goals from Xavi, Pedro, Jeffren, and a Villa double.
Over the past two decades, Barça Mondays have included other notable results, such as a 3-0 win over Sporting on August 31, 2009, featuring goals from Bojan, Keita, and Ibrahimović, and a 3-2 victory at home against Celta on August 28, 2006, with strikes from Samuel Eto’o, Lionel Messi, and Gudjohnsen. The Monday scheduling debate in Spanish football involves multiple bodies, including the Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF), La Liga, and the Higher Sports Council (CSD). The disagreement centers on holding league fixtures at the start of the week, with divergent views among leadership about the best days to play. The CSD has occasionally aligned with the league’s preference, while the federation has shown resistance, resulting in occasional Monday matches for certain fixtures. This ongoing friction explains why Barça’s Monday matches appear in a broader strategic context of scheduling and competition formats (Goal).
Note: The scheduling and interpretation of Monday fixtures can be influenced by calendar positioning, European competition results, and political considerations within regional communities. The Catalan derby remains one of the most anticipated fixtures in Spanish football, drawing strong local and international interest regardless of the day.