The great contradiction that explains Hansi Flick's Barça
The team wants to put behind them the worst feelings of the season after the tough defeats against Atlético and Girona.
BarcelonaLooking at Barça's recent results, they paint a picture of a team that seems substantially worse than the fresh and dynamic squad Hansi Flick assembled in his first season on the Barça bench. The main differences are seen in the Copa del Rey – the team must overcome a 4-0 deficit if they want to reach the final at La Cartuja, whereas last season, against the same opponent, the first leg ended in a 4-4 draw at Montjuïc – and in the Champions League, where they have done their job, but not in the same way. The overall feeling is also worse.
If the focus shifts to La Liga – the competition that truly reflects a team's consistency – however, the figures are very similar at this stage of the season. On matchday 24 last season, Barça led the league with 51 points – the same as Real Madrid, and one more than Atlético de Madrid – after recording 16 wins, three draws, and five losses. Heading into matchday 25, Flick's team sits in second place with 48 points – two fewer than Arbeloa's side – with 19 wins, one draw, and four losses. Looking at the number of goals scored and conceded in La Liga, the parallels are almost identical: 64 goals for and 25 against in 24 matchdays in the 2025-26 season, and 65 goals for and the same number against (25) in 2024-25. In the Champions League, the differences – based on the statistics – are more pronounced. Last season, Barça finished an encouraging regular season with six wins, one draw, and one loss, scoring 28 goals and conceding 13 – a goal difference of 15. This season, the figures are five wins, one draw, and two losses, with 22 goals for and 14 against – a goal difference almost halved. As for the team's performance, Barça is currently going through one of its worst spells of the season after suffering a heavy defeat at the Metropolitano and failing to recover at Montilivi, a loss that temporarily cost them the league lead.
Football always has an inherent element of chance that makes it such an attractive sport, but which can also lead to contradictions. In fact, right now, although the feeling is bad, we've already seen that the statistics – especially in La Liga – aren't that different from last season. However, one of the reasons for Flick's team's current slump lies in the contradiction that, although it may not seem so, the team is more productive in attack than last season. Yet, their finishing in front of goal has declined.
More exuberance, but less accuracy
According to the data from LaTdT Laboratory According to data from Catalunya Ràdio provided by Marc Domènech to ARA, in the 38 matches across all competitions that Barça has played so far, they are scoring fewer goals, although they are taking more shots on target and more shots on goal overall. Last season, the team scored 116 goals – 3 per game – from a total of 420 shots on target – 11 per game – and 736 shots on goal – 19 per game. This represents a 28% success rate in terms of shots on target. In contrast, this year the team has accumulated 494 shots on target – 13 per game – and 832 shots on goal – 22 per game – but has scored 16 fewer goals. This means an eight percentage point decrease in success rate (from 28% to 20%) in terms of goals scored compared to shots on target.
Another clear indication of Barcelona's dip in form is that they are the team in Europe's top five leagues that has hit the woodwork the most times. Barça has struck the post 25 times in the 24 matches played so far, followed by Manchester United (18), Inter Milan (17), RB Leipzig (15), and Bayern Munich (15). Ferran Torres has hit the post 9 times, followed by Raphinha and Dani Olmo, with four each.
The recent results haven't been helped by the changes in the leadership of the CTA (Technical Committee of Referees), headed since July by Fran Soto, who has intimidated referees with the threat that if VAR intervenes too frequently, their performances will be diminished. This helps explain why the video assistant referee room intervened less frequently regarding Echeverri's foot on Koundé in the last match. Nevertheless, Sunday's visit from Levante presents a good opportunity to put the refereeing controversies behind them and rediscover their scoring touch – and their solidity. "We're not in a good moment. Now we have weeks to work, and that's what we'll have to do. We'll fight to come back with a different mentality and a different level. I don't want excuses. We have to play better," Flick added after the debacle at Montilivi.
