📊 Check out the possession stats from Quique Setién's Barça debut! | OneFootball

Whether they like it or not, every Barcelona manager for the foreseeable future is going to be compared to Pep Guardiola.

Ernesto Valverde certainly couldn’t live up to Guardiola’s achievements, and his recent sacking also had much to do with his defensive approach.

That less adventurous style was seen by many as an affront to the legacy of possession football Pep (and his mentor Johann Cryuff) left the Catalans with.

With that in mind, the stats from Sunday’s 1-0 home win over Granada will appease Barça fans yearning for a return to near total control of the ball.

New boss Quique Setién saw his troops enjoy a whopping 82.6% possession over the 90 minutes, according to Opta.

That was the highest figure in a La Liga game since Guardiola’s all-conquering 2011 side registered possession stats of 84% and 83.9% in separate games.

It’s often said that football is a results business.

However, as Valverde can attest, winning alone is not enough at the Nou Camp. It has to be done with a certain panache as well.

Setién will hope he can deliver both to the Blaugrana.