With 3 goals against Espanyol, Barcelona officially reached the 40-goal mark since the beginning of the season in the national championship and took the lead in the top 5 European championships, 8 points ahead of the team behind Bayern Munich. table.
Before round 12 of La Liga took place, Robert Lewandowski scored 14 goals, more than double that of Raphinha, Barcelona’s second-highest scorer. Last Sunday night, Lewandowski did not score any goals in the 3-1 victory, but Raphinha was still exactly half the number of goals behind him.
However, that is not too important for coach Flick, Barca players or fans. The latest victory not only helps Barca temporarily widen the gap with Real Madrid in La Liga to 9 points (Real Madrid have not met Valencia), but also helps Barca reach the milestone of 40 goals since the beginning of the season in the national championship.
With 40 goals, Barcelona is currently leading the top 5 European national championships, 8 goals ahead of the team behind Bayern Munich. Barca’s number of goals in La Liga is more than the total number of goals of Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid combined (39 goals).
Even when compared to the period when Lionel Messi was at Barca, this team has never scored so many goals after 12 rounds of La Liga. In the history of the club, only in the 1950/51 season did they score more goals with 42 goals, but at that time, the average number of goals per game was 4.33.
The Magic Four
The sheer number of goals and Lewandowski’s prolific scoring might make it seem like Barca are reliant on him. But in reality, his teammates have contributed as well. Raphinha has seven, Lamine Yamal and Dani Olmo have five each, Pedri and Pablo Torre have three each, while Jules Kounde, Ferran Torres and Pau Victor have all scored once.
Barcelona are currently the only team with 4 different players scoring 5 or more goals in the league. The coordination between the quartet Lewandowski – Raphinha – Yamal – Olmo is extremely impressive. In particular, Olmo scored 5 goals after only 270 minutes on the field, an average of a goal every 54 minutes.
Yamal is leading the list of assists with 7 times, Raphinha has 6 times, while Marc Casado, although playing as a holding midfielder, has also had 3 assists. Of Yamal’s 7 assists, 2 were for Lewandowski, Olmo and Raphinha (2 times each); the remaining time was for Pedri. Of Raphinha’s 6 assists, half were for Lewandowski.
Barca didn’t even need to play at full strength in the second half against Espanyol to keep their strength for the Champions League. With their current attacking form, Barca will probably be crowned La Liga champions quite early this season.
