Barcelona have made best start to the LaLiga season in five years
Even Luis Enrique and Guardiola never posted better numbers than Xavi
A goal from Robert Lewandowski in injury time secured Barcelona's 10th league victory at Valencia on Saturday. Things have not gone well for Xavi Hernández's team in the Champions League, but they are doing OK domestic championship. The performances, in some games, have not always been brilliant, but the results keep coming. Ten wins, a draw against Rayo Vallecano on matchday one and a defeat at the Bernabéu in the Clasico have allowed Barça to obtain 31 points out of a possible 36. Excellent numbers.
To find a better league start, you have to go back to the 2017-18 season, Ernesto Valverde's first on the Camp Nou bench. His team had 34 points, with eleven wins and a single draw against Atlético de Madrid on matchday eight. Barça won LaLiga that season losing only one game, on the penultimate game week against Levante and only when they were already champions.
Between that season and the current one, the starts have been light years away. Last season, only 17 points were added in 12 games, with four wins, five draws and three losses. Ronald Koeman was fired on matchday 11 and Sergi Barjuan led the team on matchday 12 against Alavés. In the previous year, with Koeman on the bench, Barça picked up 20 points in twelve games, with six wins, two draws and four losses. A little better, but not much, were the starts in the previous two seasons with Valverde on the bench. 23 points in the 2019-20 season with seven wins, two draws and three losses. The 'Txingurri' was dismissed in January. In the 2018-19 season, Barça had 24 points, with seven wins, three draws and two losses. Valverde's team ended up winning their second consecutive league.
Apart from Barça's great start to the 'Txingurri' in the 2017-18 season, you have to go back to the years of Gerardo Martino and Tito Vilanova to find better starts after 12 games than the current Barça. Those teams, like the one from the 2017-18 season, added 34 points in twelve games. Only one draw, against Osasuna on matchday nine, held up to 'Tata' Martino in the 2013-14 season. That Barça side lost the leagie on the final game of the campaign against Atlético Madrid. The season before, identical numbers with Tito Vilanova. Only two points dropped against Real Madrid on matchday 7. Barça won that league with a record number of points: 100.
GUARDIOLA & LUIS ENRIQUE
Between Martino and Valverde, Luis Enrique was Barça coach for three seasons. He won two of the three leagues in which he coached Barça, but in none of the three did he have a start like the current Barça after 12 games. 28 points in the 2014-15 season, the Treble season, 30 in 2015-16, when there was a Double, and 26 in 2016-17.
Pep Guardiola, meanwhile, coached Barça for four seasons, winning the league in the first three. Only in the 2010-11 season did he match Xavi's current record. That Barça was second after 12 games, a point behind Real Madrid but they ended up as champions. In the 2008-09 season, the one that began with a defeat against Numancia and a draw against Racing, he had 29 points. 30 in the 2009-10 season and 28 in the 2011-12 season.
