Why has Flick's Barça started the season so well?

BarcelonaBarça thrashed Feyenoord 5-1in their Champions League debut and confirmed the good feelings of the last few weeks. The Blaugrana returned to showing their best version and have already scored 22 goals in five matches. With an average of 4.4 goals per game, they are the team from the main European leagues that has scored the most at the start of this competition, and only in one match—against Athletic Club—did they not reach five goals.

In the first test of the season, the debut in the Champions League, the Catalans resolved the match without problems and, furthermore, Hansi Flick could afford the luxury of taking Pedri and Raphinha off the pitch when there were still more than twenty minutes left to play. "With the changes, the team continues with our idea, how we want to play," the coach said at the subsequent press conference. The German made up to five changes with respect to the victory in Valencia and managed to ensure it was not noticed on the pitch. The squad depth, the main reason.

Of the twelve substitute players that Hansi Flick had in his European debut with Barça against Monaco in 2024 —with a 2-1 defeat—, only Gerard Martín remains on the squad. Iñaki Peña, Ander Astralaga, Andrés Cuenca, Sergi Domínguez, Héctor Fort, Guille Fernández, Toni Fernández, Pablo Torre, Pau Víctor, Ansu Fati and Ferran Torres have packed their bags over the last two summers. This year, the coach brought in Gavi, Fermín López, Gabriel Jesús, Anthony Gordon and Marc Bernal as substitutes. An abysmal change.

An improvement in the squad that allows us to see the best version of Hansi Flick's Barça. For the first time in over a century, the Blaugrana have scored five goals in four of the first five matches of the season, as explained by data expert journalist Oriol Jové, who adds that it is the season in which the most goals have been scored since the 1950-51 campaign. “I like what I see a lot, but there are situations where we need to improve. For me, the most important thing is training, which is where we learn and improve,” remarked Flick, who insisted on the high quality of the day-to-day work.

Effectiveness is one of the key points in this start to the season. The blue and reds only need four shots to find the back of the net. A remarkable improvement compared to the previous campaign, when the Catalans needed more than five attempts to score a goal. The mobility in the role of the number nine, with various players interchanging positions, and the good level of Raphinha—the team's top scorer with eight goals—have contributed to increasing this figure. “We have different profiles. Dani Olmo is good at controlling the game, while Raphinha is intense and deep,” pointed out the blue and red coach.

Pressing, another one of Flick's keys

High pressure is another of the important points of this Barça. Against Feyenoord, the azulgranas recovered the ball six times in the opponent's half (12% of the total), according to data provided by Opta. A hallmark that has already borne fruit in the League, as the Catalans have managed to score two goals after stealing the ball. And this pressure also conditions the defenders, who have to defend further away from Joan Garcia. Precisely, João Cancelo, Jules Kounde, and Pau Cubarsí are the three footballers—along with Rodri—who covered the most distance in the Champions League debut, with more than eleven kilometers each.

The center-back from Estanyol, moreover, also stood out against Feyenoord in building up play. Cubarsí completed 105 passes out of the 106 he attempted and, together with Christensen (101/104), they were the two players who made the most passes during the match. In fact, the connection that occurred the most times on the pitch was between both footballers; Christensen received 33 passes from Cubarsí.

Defense, the great point for improvement

The good performance in attack contrasts with the defense. With the goal conceded on Wednesday, Barça has now gone sixteen consecutive matches without keeping a clean sheet in the Champions League. The last time was more than a year ago, on April 9, 2025, in the first leg of the quarter-finals against Borussia Dortmund (4-0). In Hansi Flick's three seasons on the Blaugrana bench, the team has conceded 45 goals in 27 European matches and has only managed to finish the game without conceding on four occasions.

Although the sense of danger is greater—due to the plays invalidated for offside that end in a goal-scoring opportunity—this season the Blaugranas have conceded three goals in five duels. Opponents have managed to shoot thirteen times against Joan Garcia's goal, who has accumulated eight saves, while two shots were intercepted by the Catalan defense. Other actions, which ended in a goal or a save by the goalkeeper from Sallent, were annulled for offside, which creates a false sense of danger for the fans. Feyenoord fell into an offside position eight times and saw two goals disallowed for this reason.