Sheffield United headed into their pre-season campaign with the task of building towards their return to the Premier League in the upcoming season, having secured promotion from the Championship at the second time of asking last term.
In their first full season under the management of Paul Heckingbottom, the Blades kept themselves in the top two for almost the entirety of the campaign, eventually finishing on 91 points from their 46 matches having put up 28 victories while only suffering 11 defeats.
The South Yorkshire outfit fended off any potential competition from below with an eye-catching end to the term, as they won eight of their last 10 outings and wrapped up the top-two finish with a 2-0 triumph at home to West Bromwich Albion in late April, before signing off with a 2-1 victory away at Birmingham City in the final round of fixtures, courtesy of goals from Oli McBurnie and James McAtee.
On the back of that triumphant campaign, Heckingbottom’s men returned for pre-season earlier in July and made the short trip to Chesterfield for their first friendly, eventually scoring a 2-0 win courtesy of Iliman Ndiaye and Ben Osborn at the SMH Group Stadium.
They then travelled to Portugal for a training camp and met Primeira Liga Estoril Praia on Wednesday, and having now returned back to home soil with less than three weeks to go until they kick off back in the top flight at home to Crystal Palace, the Blades will look to keep building momentum in consecutive matches against Rotherham United and Girona before finishing pre-season against Derby County and Stuttgart.
They meet a Girona side who enjoyed an impressive return to their own domestic top flight last time around, having previously earned promotion from the Segunda Division under the management of Michel.
In their first season back in La Liga, the Blanquivermells secured a 10th-placed finish, amassing 49 points from their 38 outings, although it certainly could have been better for Michel’s side, who sat seventh in the final weeks of the term, only to go winless in their last five outings while only managing two points.
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That may be somewhat of a cause for disappointment for Girona, as they missed out on European qualification as a result, but they should certainly still be pleased with a top-half La Liga finish, and they began their preparations for another top-half push with a friendly against Olot last Wednesday, eventually coming out with a 4-2 win as Minsu Kim, Iker Almena, Manu Vallejo and Pau Victor got on the scoresheet.
Michel’s men then met FC Andorra at the weekend and saw the contest end in a 2-2 draw, as they went two goals down only to draw level through Yangel Herrera and Cristhian Stuani.
Now upping the intensity of their pre-season preparations further, Girona travel to Manchester to take on Sheffield United and Blackburn Rovers and will be keen to build confidence before meeting Italian giants Napoli and Lazio and kicking off their domestic campaign away at Real Sociedad in mid-August.
