The Stats That Show Why FC Barcelona Are Destined To Be La Liga Champions This Season

FC Barcelona are now 11 points clear of Real Madrid at the top of La Liga after beating Villarreal 1-0 at the Estadio de la Ceramica on Sunday evening.

An 18th minute goal from Pedri was enough to seal victory. The midfielder was world class for the Blaugrana – but so too were Frenkie de Jong and Ronald Araujo.

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This is a team effort of course, however, and Barca are by no means being carried by the individual quality of their biggest stars.

They battled to another gritty win on the road as a collective, and stats other than their comfortable lead at the top are starting to show how Xavi’s men seem destined to win La Liga in 2022/2023.

First and foremost is that – as clarified by OptaJose above – Barca registered their seventh 1-0 win of the season at Villarreal.

On Sunday they were good, but in a true show of champions’ mettle, there were other games when they were off key yet still managed to get the job done.

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Whereas last term they might have drawn these matches or even lost them, now they are picking up the win and making one point into three without conceding.

Just seven goals have gone past Marc-Andre ter Stegen in 21 matches, and three of these were scored by Real Madrid in their only La Liga defeat thus far in October.

The weekend’s victory was also their eighth in a row since drawing 1-1 with Espanyol on New Year’s Eve and means they have managed to put together such a sequence for the first time since 2017.

Furthermore, Xavi has now equaled Pep Guardiola’s record of 11 consecutive victories in all competitions and could surpass that with a win over Manchester United in a Europa League first leg at Camp Nou on Thursday.

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Incredible since the turn of 2023, Barca are now unbeaten in 16 matches in all competitions which has helped boost confidence and morale in the league.

There is some way to go until matching Ernesto Valverde’s record of 36 matches without a loss in 2017/2018, but with a stingy defense and the team in the form it is, nothing is impossible under Xavi.