ABSURD STAT shows Flick has taken Barcelona to a new level

Muhammad Butt

Updated: 7 Oct 2024 17:34 BST
3 min read

Hansi Flick, Barcelona, 2024/25 — © IMAGO

There is an absurd statistical metric for this season's football that shows Hansi Flick has taken Barcelona to a new level.

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So far in 2024/25, league leaders Barcelona have caught their opponents offside a massive 62 (SIXTY-TWO) times. That is more than double the next best La Liga side (Osasuna with 26).

Barcelona's ridiculous number of offsides provoked is the highest among Europe's top five leagues. It's almost twice as many as second place, Brighton & Hove Albion with 31.

Even if you switch to per-90 to account for Premier League, Bundesliga, Ligue 1 and Serie A sides playing less games than La Liga; Barcelona still reign supreme with a massive 6.89 offsides provoked per-90 minutes, with Brighton once again a ways back in second (4.43 offsides provoked).

Not only have Barcelona been the masters of the offside trap this season, but they've been successful along the way. In fact you have to scroll down to 17th in the list (Liverpool with 2.43 offsides provoked per-90) to find the next league leader.

Barcelona have always played expressive, daring football. That is the reputation they have and what they are known for, but they seemed to have forgotten this in recent years with a string of pragmatic or underperforming (or sometimes both) managers.

© IMAGO - Despite winning La Liga in his first campaign, Xavi's Barcelona struggled last season.

Hansi Flick has taken Barcelona to the next level

Hans-Dieter "Hansi" Flick is built different. The German manager came in with high expectations, having won a Treble with Bayern Munich in 2020, but no one could have anticipated the instantly transformative effect he would have on Barcelona.

Not only are Barcelona playing dominant offside football, but they're just playing dominant football full-stop. They lead all clubs in Europe's top five leagues for shots on-target (63), goals (28), assists (21), xG (22.1), npxG (20.5) and, despite missing out on Nico Williams, successful take-ons (104)!

© IMAGO - Lamine Yamal has 27 successful take-ons this season, second across Europe's top 5 leagues.

While it is still early in the season, this is an incredibly encouraging start to life in Catalunya for Hansi Flick. Despite dealing with financial problems and injury issues, he genuinely appears to have taken Barcelona to a new level.