5 Surprising Stats About Barcelona's 2016/17 Season
Barcelona have had a somewhat mixed campaign so far; despite being just two points off the top spot in La Liga, losing only twice in league play and being comfortably through to the latter stages of both the Champions League and Copa del Rey, there have been sub-par performances and questions over the manager's future—as well, it's Real Madrid they trail in La Liga, with Sevilla also ahead.
The doom and gloom that can sometimes come with a negative result, combined with Real Madrid eclipsing Barca's own unbeaten record this month, has given rise to an overall impression that this team is past their best and enduring a tough season.
But do the stats back that up, both on a collective and an individual level?
Unless otherwise stated, all stats are via WhoScored.com.
Clinical
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Barcelona will always be at or next to the top of the scoring charts in La Liga, thanks to their power and dominance over most rival and local teams. Indeed, this term they have 47 goals in league play, one more than Real Madrid and nine more than the third-highest scorers, Sevilla.
But in a Europe-wide look, their attacking line is no longer the most formidable: They rank 14th in the top five leagues for total shots (per Squawka) and their shot accuracy, or shots on target, ranks only 40th at 47 per cent.
Even so, Barca still claim a podium spot when we look at conversion rates, which places them in second for being clinical with their shooting out of the top eight scoring teams in Europe.
| Team | Goals scored | Total shots | Conversion rate |
| AS Monaco | 58 | 249 | 23.3% |
| Liverpool | 48 | 365 | 13.2% |
| FC Barcelona | 47 | 300 | 15.6% |
| Real Madrid | 46 | 318 | 14.5% |
| Arsenal | 45 | 319 | 14.1% |
| Napoli | 45 | 364 | 12.4% |
| Tottenham | 41 | 384 | 10.7% |
| AS Roma | 39 | 344 | 14.4% |
In short, this tells us the forward line (as the main goalscorers) are as productive as usual, but perhaps the balance of the rest of the team is not quite there to provide the ammunition this season. Yet, anyway.
Passing
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Barcelona's identifiable style has for a long time revolved around possession of the ball, retention in areas high up the field and not allowing the opposition to build attacks. It was not uncommon to see the Catalan side take 60 or 70 per cent possession in any given game, but this season, it has been alluded to by many that the possession-domination aspect is gone from their game.
That doesn't really bear up under scrutiny; Barca are well clear in La Liga, averaging over 62 per cent possession in games, while they are second in the UEFA Champions League on 60.6, behind only Bayern Munich (66.7 per cent). Europe-wide in league play, the same two are top: Bayern on 64.9 per cent, just ahead of Barca.
Barcelona recorded 62.9 per cent possession in 15/16, 65.3 in 14/15 and 63.7 in 13/14, so Luis Enrique's team are far from unusually lacking in having the ball this term.
What is surprising is the passing success on an individual level; a team that dominates possession to such an extent would usually be assumed to have at least a couple of players who are relentlessly accurate with dispensing the ball, and that goes double for Barca with the likes of Sergio Busquets and Andres Iniesta in the team.
Not so this year.
In fact, the only player who makes the top 20 in Europe for pass-completion rate (at least 10 league appearances) is back-up midfielder Rafinha. He's in 12th, on 92 per cent, alongside the likes of Julian Weigl and Javi Martinez. Inside the top 40 is just one other Blaugrana name: centre-back Javier Mascherano, way down in 30th.
Harking back to the earlier suggestion that the middle third isn't providing as many chances as usual for the front three, Barca rank only ninth for key passes per game, well behind the likes of Real Madrid, Bayern and Liverpool.
Strike Rate
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Barcelona have the best forward line in the world, in the eyes of some. We've already seen how clinical they are as a team—just the free-scoring Monaco are more impressive—but how about on an individual level?
Somehow, the exploits of Lionel Messi this season are going completely unnoticed, yet the Argentine No. 10 is scoring at a phenomenal rate—27 in all competitions—far and away eclipsing last season's tally...or any of the previous few, for that matter.
Messi has netted a goal on average every 74.6 minutes in 2016/17, a quite staggering feat. In the Champions League, it's a goal every 45 minutes.
Compare Messi's 75-minute strike rate to Europe's top marksmen (all competitions):
| Player | Goals | Mins per goal |
| E. Cavani | 24 | 84 |
| P-E. Aubameyang | 20 | 95 |
| A. Lacazette | 18 | 97 |
| M. Icardi | 17 | 127 |
| A. Sanchez | 16 | 143 |
| D. Costa | 14 | 126 |
| L. Suarez | 18 | 114 |
| C. Ronaldo | 18 | 104 |
And to his former self:
| Season | Mins per goal |
| 16/17* | 74.6 |
| 15/16 | 103 |
| 14/15 | 87 |
| 13/14 | 91 |
| 12/13 | 68 |
It's early in the season still, but Messi is recording numbers that saw him net around 60 in 50 games four and five years ago.
Elsewhere, a surprisingly poor campaign for Neymar (in front of goal, at least) leaves him well behind, scoring once every 267 minutes on average this season. On a more positive surprise note, Barcelona's second most-frequent scorer isn't Suarez but in fact Arda Turan, who has netted 12 this season, one every 112 minutes.
Minutes
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How about time on the pitch? There are a number of surprising tallies so far in the Barcelona squad, with some players gaining more minutes (per Transfermarkt) across all competitions than might be expected.
Sergi Roberto has more game time than Neymar, for example, while the oft-injured Jordi Alba has racked up just 100 minutes more than positional rival Lucas Digne. Of more surprise in a season where the midfield has been switched up so frequently is that Ivan Rakitic, who hasn't played 90 minutes in La Liga since October and has only managed one sub appearance in the last four games, has still played more than all four rivals: Denis Suarez, Turan, Rafinha and Andre Gomes.
Denis, meanwhile, has been on the pitch more often than club captain Iniesta.
The biggest surprise though has to be surrounding €32 million striker Paco Alcacer, whose debut season has so far yielded a paltry tally of one goal, an embarrassing footnote to the club's official announcement that suggested "goals guaranteed."
Despite seeming to get plenty of opportunities off the bench, he has actually tallied only 75 minutes more than back-up right-back Aleix Vidal, who was ostracised for months before his recent return to action.
Ineffective?
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Finally, if there are question marks over Alcacer's involvement, there must be more surrounding the investment in midfielder Andre Gomes. A starting fee of €35 million, rising to €55m, should yield a pretty immediate return—but that hasn't been the case at all.
Thus far, the Portuguese playmaker registers just 0.3 key passes per game...that's less than Vidal, Denis Suarez, Mascherano, Digne and Busquets. In fact, it's 17th in the entire squad including Munir, who doesn't even play for Barca any more yet created in his only game.
Only defenders Samuel Umtiti, Gerard Pique and Jeremy Mathieu and the squad goalkeepers have less key passes per game than Gomes, who has much to prove.
On the other hand, while Neymar's goals are a concern, he is still impacting on matches. In fact, he's second in all of Europe's top five leagues for average dribbles per game, reaching 4.9, with only Adama Traore—now of Middlesbrough, formerly of Barca B—ahead of him on 5.2.
Both Barcelona players need to find better end product in their game.
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