Blackburn Rovers to host La Liga side in pre-season double header

The club have now announced five friendlies which will conclude with the visit of the Spanish side to Ewood Park on Saturday, July 29 (3pm) a week before the 2023/24 Championship season gets under way.

Girona have been confirmed as the ‘marquee’ friendly for the summer having finished 10th in La Liga last season. It will be a repeat of the 2016 friendly at Ewood Park when Ben Marshall scored in a 1-1 draw.

The schedule is the influence of Jon Dahl Tomasson who wanted to shape pre-season differently to 12 months ago.

Instead of playing one game in midweek and another at the weekend throughout July as in previous years, Tomasson is keen on playing games back-to-back so to better manage the schedule of his players.

That will see Rovers also play League Two side Stockport County on Friday, July 28 (7.30pm).

Rovers will travel to Edgeley Park to face a County side who missed out on promotion to League One following a play-off final defeat to Carlisle United on penalties.

The following day they will host Girona, a first home friendly for Rovers since they played Leeds United in 2021, which ended a three-year wait after Liverpool and Everton visited in 2018.

That is a second double-header, with Rovers to face two League One sides the previous week.

Fleetwood Town will host Rovers on Friday, July 21 (7pm) at Highbury before they head to Oakwell to face Barnsley on Saturday, July 22 (3pm).

It will be a return to Fleetwood for the first time in three years when the sides met in a behind-closed-doors fixture in July 2020.

Rovers had to come from behind, having trailed early on to a Ched Evans goal, and despite Ben Brereton having a penalty saved, goals from Harry Chapman, an Adam Armstrong brace and Luke Brennan strike gave them a 4-1 victory.

The players will report back for training earlier than usual on Tuesday, June 20, with the first friendly to come at Accrington Stanley on Saturday, July 8.

As per 12 months ago, in what was Tomasson’s first game in charge, the friendly will be made up of two separate games of 60 minutes.

Rovers will then head overseas, the details of which are still to be announced, with the plan to play two friendlies before returning to the UK.

It will be the second time in eight months that Rovers have played games overseas, having faced Hearts and Ajax during the trip to Marbella in the World Cup break.

Unlike last summer, there will be just one training camp away from the Senior Training Centre at Brockhall, with Rovers having travelled to Portugal and Scotland.

After this summer’s training camp the squad will then return to the UK, leading into the Fleetwood and Barnsley double-header.

Ticket details for all five fixtures announced will be confirmed in due course.