Barca News
The League achieved by FC Barcelona last season is explained by its defensive solidity. Xavi’s team managed to concede very few goals (20) but until the day of the mathematical alirón, against Espanyol in Cornellà-El Prat, the figure was only thirteen . Spectacular numbers that allowed Ter Stegen to win his first Zamora trophy.
Nothing to do with the figures that the Blaugranas are having at this start of the League . In the 10 games played, Barça has already conceded ten goals (three from Villarreal, one from Osasuna, two from Celta, two from Mallorca and two from Granada), a number of goals against that last season did not reach until the day 31.
Xavi decided to tweak his defensive line this season . Koundé was the great sacrifice last season because he had to play most of the games as a full-back and after a talk with the coach it was agreed that in this season he would return to play as a center-back, where he feels more comfortable and where Xavi also prefers him, among other reasons, due to his great ball delivery.
Furthermore, the Barça coach wanted a specialist on the right wing and the club has brought him one of the best, Joao Cancelo . He is playing absolutely everything and at a very good level. He is one of the untouchables.
Koundé was also a fixture for Xavi until he was injured. In most of the games this season he had to play with Andreas Christensen, who benefited from Araujo’s loss to start adding starts. The Dane has continued to show that he is an absolutely reliable defender.
Against Athletic Bilbao, Xavi Hernández is in a position to reunite Barça’s most reliable center back pairing, which is Araujo and Christensen. An unbeatable tandem, a real wall.
Last season they formed the central duo in a total of 21 games in all competitions (15 in the League, 1 in the Champions League, 2 in the Spanish Super Cup, 2 in the Europa League and 1 in the Copa del Rey) with a balance of 14 victories. , 3 defeats and 4 draws. Together, forming a central pair, they played a total of 1,345 minutes.
Furthermore, in nine of these matches, the team managed to keep a clean sheet. It was in the matches against Rayo Vallecano, Atlético, Real Sociedad, Sevilla, Villarreal, Valencia, Betis, Osasuna and Getafe.
Source: Sport
