FC Barcelona are at a point of their season where despite certain obvious issues within their tactical setup, there are certain points to take away from the games of the Catalan giants that show good promise in terms of a specific statistic.
As highlighted by Spanish outlet Mundo Deportivo, FC Barcelona has had a bright start to the league from a defensive perspective, as the Catalan defense has managed to maintain clean sheets in both their first two games of the 2023/2024 La Liga EA Sports season.
First came the goalless 0-0 stalemate against Getafe CF at Coliseum Alfonso Perez, and then the 2-0 victory over Cadiz CF at the Lluis Companys Olympic Stadium recently.
In both encounters, the Barcelona defense was at the top of their game, and whenever they ended up making a defensive error, the ever-reliable presence of Barcelona captain and German international Marc Andre Ter Stegen was always there to keep the Blaugrana goal safe.
MD correlates this defensive rigidity as being the exact reason Barcelona ended up winning La Liga last season as well, having ended the season with the least goals conceded in the league in 2022/2023 which consequently gave Ter Stegen his first-ever Zamora trophy as well.
With the clash against Villarreal up next, FC Barcelona will be hoping to match the defensive statistic of Ernesto Valverde’s 2017/2018 Barcelona side who did not concede even once in their opening three league games, something Xavi’s men could now match at the Estadio de la Ceramica.
Another outrageous defensive record that they could also look towards is Luis Enrique’s 2014/2015 Barcelona campaign which saw the Catalans not concede for 8 straight league games. At that time, Claudio Bravo was still in goal and Ter Stegen mainly appeared for cup competitions.
