Barca reached the top of La Liga 4 rounds early. It sounds monumental, but there is still a ripple in the coronation journey of coach Xavi Hernandez and his team. Is Barca winning the championship convincing? It would be wrong to say no, because there is no team that won the cup 4 rounds early and called it luck. However, to be fair, 2022/23 is the season where Barca’s direct rivals in La Liga, namely the two Madrid teams, did not perform well. The fluctuating performance of both Real Madrid and Atletico has indeed cleared the way for Barca to reach the finish line. Looking at the whole journey, the Camp Nou team had a few stumbles, but Real and Atletico basically fell more painfully, and then made everything gradually slip out of hand.
Another interesting thing is that Barca won La Liga this season thanks to the fulcrum of defense instead of attack. Something sounds wrong, because the Catalunya giant has long been known for his destructive attack style. That’s right, after 34 rounds, Barca only conceded 13 goals, the lowest number not only in La Liga, but also in the top 5 European leagues. Looking at this statistic, many people probably thought that Jose Mourinho was leading Barca, not Xavi. From a place of death, Barca’s defense suddenly became a fulcrum – something certainly beyond imagination. Going into details, Barca only had 2 games conceded at home, that was against Espanyol and Real Madrid. As for away, Sociedad, Real, Osasuna, Betis, Almeria, Vallecano and Espanyol are rare teams that can shake the Barca net. Real is the only team that causes Barca to concede 3 goals in a match this season.
In terms of attack, Barca have 10 matches won with a score of 1-0. By quick mental calculation, these results account for approximately 30% of the victories of Xavi’s teachers and students. The question is Barca is now more pragmatic, or is their attack blunt? Both, but the lack of sharp attack probably accounts for a higher proportion. Robert Lewandowski is currently Barca’s main striker and is leading the list of “Top scorers” in La Liga with 21 goals. However, it should be known that from the beginning of 2023 until now, Lewy has only pocketed 8 goals. Except for the former Bayern star, Barca does not have another player in the Top 15 best scorers in La Liga this season, let alone the Top 10. That shows that Barca’s attack is not playing well.
In short, if Real Madrid and Atletico play stably and in better form, Barca may not be able to win La Liga this season. That is not to say that the glory that Xavi’s teachers and students won is underestimated. However, broadly speaking, this is certainly not the beginning of a new cycle of dominance for the Catalan giants in the domestic playground, because they still have a lot of problems to overcome. In general, La Liga 2022/23 is just Barca’s seasonal championship no more and no less.
