FC Barcelona will play the first match of 2024 against Las Palmas tomorrow on 4th January. This will also be Barcelona’s last match for the first half of La Liga, as it comes on matchday 19 of the 2023-24 season.
Getting a victory in this match is essential for the defence of Barcelona’s league title as they are already seven points behind Real Madrid and Girona on the league table, and are currently fourth in the league, having 38 points.
As already reported here, Barcelona have not lost a match in Gran Canaria for the last thirty years. In addition to this record, there is another trend that will enhance the spirits of the team and the fans ahead of this match.
As SPORT has noted, Barcelona have lost only 3 (12%) of their first matches in a new year for the last 25 years, while winning 16 (64%) and drawing 6 (24%). Since 2021, the Catalans have won all of their first matches on the new year, beating Huesca, Mallorca, and Intercity.
The Catalans have scored 59 goals and conceded 24 goals in the first matches of the last 25 calendar years, scoring 2.36 goals and conceding 0.96 in each game on average.
Ronald Araujo opened the scoring for Barcelona in the last year, as he scored in the 3rd minute of the Copa del Rey tie against Intercity.
Having gotten victories in the last three of their games on the first matchday of a year, Barcelona can get closer to their record of getting a win on the first match for five consecutive years if they win against Las Palmas.
This record was created between 1999 and 2003, when Barcelona defeated Alaves, Real Sociedad, Ceuta, Zaragoza, and Recreativo de Huelva. The Catalans then equalled this record in the years 2011-2015. The only time Barcelona lost their first matches in two consecutive years was in 2004-05.
Another interesting fact in this regard is that Barcelona have played all the first matches of the year away from home since 2016. In these eight away matches, Barcelona won 4, drew 3, and lost 1.
