Hansi Flick’s Barcelona not showing any significant improvement over Xavi’s in La Liga – Report | OneFootball

There is no doubt that Hansi Flick’s stint at FC Barcelona has been highly impressive up to now. With him in charge, the team emerged as one of the strongest contenders for La Liga and the UEFA Champions League at the start of the season.

However, the Blaugranes have been unable to retain their momentum in La Liga, and have lost all of their healthy lead at the top of the table, allowing both Atletico Madrid and Real Madrid to reach up to them in the race for the league title.

In fact, SPORT notes that there has not really been a lot of improvement in the team’s results as far as league points are concerned, as Hansi Flick’s Barcelona have the same number of points as Xavi’s after the first 18 games, i.e., 38.

The difference this season is that the Blaugranes are still at the top of the table with these points, while last season, they were fourth with Real Madrid, Girona, and Atletico Madrid all ahead of them.

However, there has still been an improvement in the team’s performance, as the Catalans have scored 50 goals and conceded only 20, while under Xavi, they had scored 34 goals and conceded 21 after the first 18 games.

On the other hand, Xavi’s best season as the coach of Barcelona was the 2022-23 one, and if comparisons are to be made with that year, the former Blaugrana midfielder’s record was definitely better than that of Flick this season.

In that campaign, Barcelona were the leaders of the league table with 47 points after the first 18 games. Real Madrid were second with 44 and Real Sociedad a distant third with 28 points. The Catalans won La Liga that season with a 10-point advantage over the second-placed Real Madrid.

Xavi took the reins at Barcelona in November 2021, taking over a team that was placed 9th in La Liga at that time, and was able to get them to a second-place finish in La Liga with 73 points.

Now, it remains to be seen how Flick’s first year will go from here. The Catalans have a crucial game against Atletico Madrid left before the year ends, and then a very difficult January awaits them in which they will have to play in the Spanish Super Cup, Copa del Rey, UEFA Champions League, and La Liga.