Half-time in LaLiga... advantage Barça

Xavi's side are top with 50 points after 19 matches and have conceded only seven goals

At LaLiga’s halfway stage, it’s advantage Barcelona. With 19 games played, the Catalan club top the table with 50 points, which leaves the Blaugrana on course for a first league title since 2019. “At champions’ pace,” Barcelona-based newspaper Sport said on the cover of their Friday edition.

It is exactly that. If Xavi’s side can replicate those 50 points in the second half of the season, they will equal the record of 100 set by José Mourinho’s Real Madrid in 2011-12 and matched by Tito Vilanova’s Barcelona the following season. It has been very impressive so far.

Barça beat Real Betis 2-1 at the Benito Villamarín on Wednesday night to reach the 50-point mark and after Real Madrid’s 2-0 win over Valencia on Thursday, the Blaugrana lead Los Blancos by five at LaLiga’s halfway stage (Real Sociedad, in third, are a further six points adrift).

“We played a great game,” Xavi said. “Our play was excellent. I’m happy with the result and with the way we played.”

Certainly, the win was deserved and Barça improved on their recent performances, in particular last weekend’s unconvincing 1-0 victory at Girona. Still though, there is the feeling that this team can do better.

Barcelona fans want to see their team dominating matches and controlling possession. It has not been quite that way so far under Xavi, at least not enough of the time, with more matches won thanks to the excellence of his forward players than because of midfield mastery. Perhaps, though, that is the biggest positive of all: the ability to win while not playing at your best.

Prior to the trip to Betis, Barça had won their three previous matches (albeit without the suspended Robert Lewandowski in all of those) by the same scoreline: 1-0 against Atlético Madrid; 1-0 versus Getafe; 1-0 at Girona. It may not always have been pretty, but it is pretty effective.

Key to the team’s success has been its firm foundations. Against Getafe and Girona there were shaky moments, but both games ultimately ended with clean sheets. In goal, Marc-André ter Stegen is back to his brilliant best under Xavi and is once again popping up with vital saves when it matters most.

“We’re seeing Marc at his best for some time now,” Xavi said after the win over Getafe. “He’s confident, he’s happy. He’s a leader, he’s fundamental for the way we play, not just making saves. Also with his feet.”

Ter Stegen has been helped by his team-mates at the back: summer signings Andreas Christensen and Jules Koundé have excelled; Ronald Araújo has continued to grow; Alejandro Balde has added pace and energy on the left; and further forward, the midfielders and attackers work hard to win the ball back. Collectively, the improvement is there for all to see.

It is sometimes said that forwards win matches and defences win championships. Right now, that statement seems an accurate way to describe Barça’s position at the top of the table.

Xavi’s side have conceded only seven goals in LaLiga this season. Of those, three came in a 3-1 loss at Real Madrid. And only one of the other four has cost the team any points: Espanyol’s equaliser at Camp Nou in the 1-1 draw on December 31st.

In every other LaLiga game Barça have scored in this season, they have won. In total, there have been six 1-0 wins for Xavi’s side and two 2-1 victories. The second of those came in Seville on Wednesday night and Betis only managed to score at all because Barça’s Jules Koundé chested the ball into his own net with five minutes left on the clock.

After Barcelona, the league’s next-best defensive record belongs to fifth-placed Villareal, with 14 goals conceded. That is twice as many as the amount let in by Barça. Madrid, meanwhile, have shipped 16 goals.

“We’re leaders, we’re solid in defence, we’re working well,” Xavi said on Wednesday night. “The work is paying off. The players are competing. I think today they played one of their best games of the season. I’m very satisfied.”

So he should be. This team may have dropped down to the Europa League earlier in the season, but they have already won the Supercopa and look like favourites to follow that up with the league title in June – perhaps even with a new record points total.