If something is working for Xavi Hernández this season, it is his defense, at least in the LaLiga championship. The numbers produced by the blaugrana are certainly spectacular and they are on their way to breaking all the records that have been and will be in national and even international football.
To begin with, it is, by far, the least thrashed team in the major leagues, having conceded only nine goals in 29 games. In addition, of these 29 games, Ter Stegen has been able to leave a clean sheet in 22, the last three days in a row. For more ‘inri’, in the Camp Nou no rival has yet been able to mark the German goalkeeper in play: of the two goals he has conceded, one was a penalty, the work of the blue and white Joselu, and the other was scored by Ronald Araújo, in a failed attempt to clear a cross from Vinicius in the Clásico on March 19.
In fact, Real Madrid is the team that has been able to do the most damage to the Blaugrana in the offensive phasesince in the first round he beat Ter Stegen up to three times, leaving the final result 3-1: of the nine goals conceded by Barcelona, almost half, four, have had the white stamp.
Right now, the figures thrown by Xavi’s Barça in defense open the doors wide for him to become the best rear guard in the history of Spanish football: the 18 goals in 38 days that Paco Liaño, with Deportivo in 1993/94, and Jan Oblak, with Atlético in 2015/16, were able to sign will be pulverized, almost certainly, this season. And it is that there are only nine games left to finish the championship, and he has conceded half of the goals.
These numbers are so spectacular that they could even match or surpass other mythical teams that had defense as their best weapon. We are talking about Mourinho’s Chelsea (2004/05) and Capello’s Milan (1993/94), who were capable of conceding ‘only’ fifteen goals in an entire regular season. Right now, it seems very feasible that Barcelona improve these records.
harder it seems the absolute record of European football in the major leagues held by Cagliari in the 1969/70 season: the Italian team was able to stay with only 11 goals against in Calcio. To achieve such a milestone, Ter Stegen would only have to concede two goals in the next nine games.
In any case, who also already seems like cannon fodder for the German goalkeeper is his former teammate Claudio Bravo, who holds the record for games without conceding a goal (24) in the club’s history. With the 22 that Ter Stegen now has, it seems very feasible that he will reach and even surpass the Chilean goalkeeper.
But these spectacular numbers not only have the German goalkeeper as the great ‘culprit’, but there are other managers who deserve all the medals in the world, with special attention to a Araújo, who right now is among the ‘top 3’ of the best central defenders on the planet, without forgetting Jules Koundé, who has converted his position from center back to that of right back, and Andreas Christensen, who has been the great revelation of the season, together with Alejandro Balde, a boy who came out of the youth squad who has separated from the left lane to a veteran like Jordi Alba. And apart from Alba, other footballers like Eric Garcia, Marcos Alonso and even Sergi Roberto have done their bit to achieve these absolutely spectacular numbers. And also, why not say it, Xavi’s brother, Óscar Hernández, responsible for the defensive plays and the blackboard work in the low block.