Barca - once tiki-taka, today the best defense in Europe

With nine goals conceded, Barcelona became the first club in the seven major European leagues whose net was shaken less than ten times in the first 30 rounds. On the other hand, she did not shine in European and cup competitions - in the King's Cup she conceded as many as three goals from the unknown Intercity, and in nine matches in the LŠ and LE as many as 17

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The marvelous Mark ter Stegen leads Barca's defense this season, Photo: Shutterstock

Disclaimer: The translations are mostly done through AI translator and might not be 100% accurate.

24.04.2023. 12:00h

Alexander Isak (then still a member of Sociedad), Karim Benzema, Fede Valverde, Rodrigo (Real), David Garcia (Osasuna), Joselu (Espanyol), El Bilal Toure (Almeria) and his two teammates Gilles Cunde and Ronald Araujo are the only ones who this season in La Liga they managed to beat Barcelona goalkeeper Marko ter Stegen.

Once a symbol of tiki-taka, matches with more goals, attacking football, Barcelona adapted after several difficult and unsuccessful years, Xavi Hernades created the best defense in Europe, and the title is practically at the door of the "Nou Camp".

With only nine goals conceded, Barcelona became the first club in the seven major European leagues (Spain, England, Germany, Italy, France, Portugal and the Netherlands) to concede less than ten goals in the first 30 rounds of the domestic championship.

🔴🔵HIST Ó RICO🔵🔴 El Barcelona is the FIRST team in TODA the history of the 7 main European leagues (ESP, ENG, GER, ITA, FRA, POR and NED) that surpasses the first 30 days of the championship with less than ten goles concedidos. BARÇA 2022-23 de Xavi (con TER… pic.twitter.com/8SRsVElsHt
- MisterChip (Alexis) (@ 2010MisterChip) April 23, 2023

The previous record was held by Porto and Chelsea. Both clubs conceded ten goals in the first 30 matches - the Portuguese giants in the 1991/92 season, with Vitor Baio in goal, and the English club with Petr Čech between the posts in the 2004/05 season.

The German goalkeeper in the Barça goal, Ter Stegen, thus goes down in history, but so do the great guys in front of him who "hold" the defense - above all this season, the phenomenal Araujo, and with him (depending on who was on the field) Kunde, Andreas Kristensen, Erik García , Marcos Alonso... Of course, there is also the eternal Sergio Busquets, who has been helping the "Blaugrana" defense in the middle for years.

There is no doubt that at the end of the season Ter Stegen will receive the prestigious "Ricardo Zamora" trophy for the best goalkeeper, and what feat he is doing this year together with his teammates is best shown by the fact that the fewest goals scored in one season was Jose Vicente Train, who in the 1963/ 64 conceded ten goals - but in only 15 games.

And while Barca's defense shines in La Liga, it was a completely different story in European and cup competitions.

In the King's Cup, Ćavi's boys conceded four goals from Real, and even three from the practically unknown Intercity. However, they experienced a real disaster in European competitions, where they conceded 17 goals in nine matches.

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