Goals, goals, goals
An obvious starting point, but worth underlining nonetheless. No team in all the major European leagues scores more goals than Barcelona.
Which teams have scored most goals this season?
| Team | Goals |
|---|---|
| Barcelona | 143 |
| Real Madrid | 136 |
| Bayern Munich | 115 |
| Chelsea | 101 |
| Arsenal | 97 |
Of course, having the exceptional Lionel Messi, Neymar and Luis Suarez helps - as does the paucity of opposition at the lower end of La Liga - but it is the sheer volume of goals that Barca plunder which takes the breath away: they have almost 30 more than the supposedly unstoppable Bayern Munich and comfortably out-gun every Premier League club. Essentially, if you want to see relentless attacking football and ruthless finishing, Barcelona are currently without equal in the club game.
The best front three in world football
Has there ever been a better front three in club football than Messi, Neymar and Suarez? Individually they are superstars; together, they are unstoppable and cover every attacking base, with Messi providing the guile, Neymar the ruthlessness and Suarez - now well settled after a slowish start to life in Spain - the energy. They score all types of goals in all types of games, are happy for each other to grab the glory, and never look bereft of ideas or invention.
Who scores Barcelona's goals?
| Player | Goals | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Messi | 46 | 32.2% | |||
| Neymar | 30 | 21.0% | |||
| Suarez | 19 | 13.3% | |||
| Others | 48 | 66.4% |
Luis Enrique is the new Pep
Being Barcelona manager can be a fairly thankless task: win without the pretty football and you are betraying the club's proud, swaggering traditions; play nice football but lose - and especially to Real Madrid - and you are dismissed as a failure and whisked out of the Nou Camp faster than you can say 'Mes que un club'. But in Luis Enrique, Barca appear to have struck the same seam of gold that yielded Pep Guardiola: like Pep, Enrique can claim that the club's traditions run through his veins - he made over 200 appearances for the club as a player and also managed their B side - and he has made managing one of the world's most starry squads look straightforward. His tactics are clear and uncomplicated, there have been precious few controversies under his stewardship and, most important of all, he has set new standards in winning, eclipsing both Guardiola and Helenio Herrera in his first 50 games in charge.
Most wins in first 50 games at Barcelona
| Manager | Wins |
|---|---|
| Luis Enrique | 42 |
| Helenio Herrera | 40 |
| Pep Guardiola | 37 |
They still have the best creators in the business
Xavi might be on his way out, but write off Andres Iniesta at your peril. The Spain midfielder produced one of the finest assists of the season in the 2-0 win over PSG on Tuesday, running 50 yards with the ball on his toes before slipping a lovely pass to Neymar. It would have been plain rude for the Brazilian not to apply the finish to such a fluent piece of midfield play. It reminded everyone watching how Iniesta made passing sexy.
They are technically peerless
Barca have a serrated attacking edge, but they also boast dazzling technical polish - a rare combination. No side passes the ball more often, or more accurately, than Barca, proving that the principles of tiki-taka are still alive and well in Catalonia, even if - as Guardiola always maintained - their football never lacks purpose.
Most passes played in Champions League
| Team | Passes |
|---|---|
| Barcelona | 7163 |
| FC Bayern München | 6980 |
| Paris Saint-Germain | 5489 |
| FC Porto | 5287 |
| Real Madrid | 5272 |
Most accurate passers in Champions League
| | Passing accuracy % |
|---|---|
| Barcelona | 89.3 |
| Bayern Munich | 88.4 |
| Real Madrid | 88.2 |
| Paris Saint-Germain | 87.6 |
| Ajax | 87.5 |
Team spirit
Barca's squad might be studded with stars but the team spirit appears to be surprisingly harmonious. A winning side tends to be a happy one, of course, but even in their pomp there were moments when Barca appeared to be a team riddled with divisions and cliques (Zlatan, we're looking at you here). Not now, though: Barca look like a team happy to share the glory and taking genuine pleasure in each other's achievements - Neymar's first instinct after scoring his first against PSG was to congratulate Iniesta, and pictures of the players preparing for their infamous nights out on the Ramblas - usually dressed like a particularly cheesy Europop boy band - have become social media phenomenons in their own right. True, there was one flicker of unrest when Messi had a mini-strop earlier in the season, but - then again - he is Messi.
Real have regressed
It is Barcelona's fate in life to be forever viewed through the prism of Real Madrid's performance, and in that context, there is only one winner at present. They are ahead of them by two points at the summit in La Liga, have hardly broken sweat in Europe (whereas Real face a struggle simply to reach the last four against Atletico Madrid tonight) and dismantled them in the most recent Clasico at the Nou Camp (albeit having lost the first instalment this season, 3-1, at the Bernabeu). And while Real have been beset by off-field issues - from Cristiano Ronaldo flirting with a possible exit, to the white hankie-brigade targeting Gareth Bale, and speculation over Carlo Ancelotti's future - Barca appear utterly unflustered.
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