MADRID (AP) — An impressive attack has highlighted Barcelona’s season, which was capped with the team winning its 28th Spanish league title on Thursday.
Barcelona thrived offensively in its first season under coach Hansi Flick, scoring with ease both at home and away.
, and teamed up well with veteran striker Robert Lewandowski and midfield playmaker Pedri.
Here’s a look at Barcelona’s numbers as it won the league for the second time in three seasons and completed a domestic treble along with the Copa del Rey and Spanish Super Cup.
Goal difference: 61
Barcelona blew away the competition by scoring 97 goals through 36 games, with two more matches to come. That means it has scored 61 more goals than it allowed. Compare that to Real Madrid’s goal difference of 36 — 74 scored to 38 allowed — even with an attack that included Kylian Mbappé, VinÃcius Júnior and Jude Bellingham.
Only Bayern Munich comes close to Barcelona’ tally in Europe’s top five leagues with 95 goals scored. Across all competitions, Barcelona has 169 goals in 58 matches, also the most in Europe.
4 x 12
Barcelona scored at least four goals in 23 matches across all competitions this season, including in three clasicos against Madrid. A dozen of those four-goal games came in La Liga. The Catalan club twice scored seven times — 7-0 against Valladolid and 7-1 against Valencia.
Yamal’s 149 dribbles
The 17-year-old Yamal leads the league in assists with 13, with Raphinha joint-second with nine. Yamal also has by far the most dribbles to get past opponents with 149, over 60 more than any other player. Lewandowski, Raphinha and Yamal were in the top four in shots, behind Mbappé. Three Barcelona players topped the list of passes in the league — Pau CubarsÃ, Pedri and Iñigo MartÃnez.
17 years
Yamal made all the headlines last season when he swept up records, including for youngest scorer in the Spanish league at age 16. He continued to impress this season and established himself as the team’s top star. He scored in the 4-0 win against Madrid at the Bernabeu to become the youngest scorer in a clasico at 17 years, 105 days, surpassing teammate Ansu Fati, who was about 250 days older in October 2020.
Clasico quartet
It was the first time Barcelona won every clasico in a season that had at least three matches between the rivals. It won 4-0 at the Santiago Bernabeu Stadium in the Spanish league in October, 5-2 in the Spanish Super Cup final in January, 3-2 in the Copa del Rey final last month, and 4-3 — by the 14th minute — in the second league match.
18 goals for Raphinha
The 28-year-old Raphinha, having his , netted five of the 16 goals that Barcelona scored in the four matches against Madrid. Raphinha has scored 34 goals for Barcelona this season overall, more than tripling his previous best tally. That included 18 in La Liga. The Brazil forward scored only 10 goals in each of his first two seasons after joining the Catalan club from Leeds United.
And 25 for Lewandowski
Lewandowski is having one of his best seasons with Barcelona at age 36. The Poland striker has scored 40 goals in 49 appearances, including 25 in La Liga. It is the most goals in a season for Lewandowski since leaving Bayern to come to Spain.
Flick’s fast 100
Flick became the second-fastest Barcelona coach to overall. His team reached 101 goals in 32 games in all competitions. Helenio Herrera reached the mark in 31 matches in the late 1950s. Luis Enrique and Tito Vilanova each needed 34 games, three quicker than Pep Guardiola at 37.
23 and under
Barcelona enjoyed its successful season despite a very young squad. Yamal leads the youth movement, and Pedri, Gavi, Pau CubarsÃ, FermÃn López, Alejandro Balde, Marc Casadó, Pablo Torre, Ansu Fati and Gerard MartÃn are all under 23 years old.
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