Intense work rate: Barcelona covered most distance per player in UCL Round of 16 | OneFootball

This season, FC Barcelona have been one of the most entertaining and in-form sides in Spain and Europe, and the good work done by Hansi Flick on his team is quite visible in their performances on the pitch.

However, these good performances have not come without some significant sacrifices from the Catalans, as their players work very hard on and off the ball to ensure they remain at least one step ahead of their rivals.

This aspect was never as clear as in last night’s game against Benfica in the UEFA Champions League Round of 16 first leg. The Blaugranes had to play a significant part of this game with a numerical disadvantage but were still able to get a 0-1 win.

One factor that allowed Barcelona to get this win was the physical exertion of their players, as SPORT notes that the Catalan team ran 112.4 km on the night, which was only 6 km less than the distance covered by the hosts, even though they were playing with 10 players following the 22nd minute.

On average, each Blaugrana player covered a distance of 11.24 km, while this average for the Portuguese side was 10.81 km. Thus, every player in the Barcelona jersey had to run around 400 m more than their opponents.

In fact, players from no other team playing in the UCL Round of 16 ran more than the Catalans on average in this round of the competition.

Despite having to play a significant part of the match with a numerical inferiority, the Blaugranes covered a greater distance than Real Madrid (105 km), Bayer Leverkusen (110 km), and Club Brugge KV (110 km).

On the other hand, Borussia Dortmund (121 km), Arsenal (121 km), and Lille (120 km) ran more than Barcelona in total, but on average, each of their players covered 11 km on the pitch, which is lower than the distance covered by Azulgrana players.