5 reasons why Barcelona lead Real Madrid by 19 points in La Liga
Barcelona came back from 2 goals down, emerging as triumphant winners following a thrilling 4-2 clash against a lively Real Sociedad side at Anoeta Stadium on Sunday night. The win extended their ongoing unbeaten streak to 29 games in all competitions this season.
FC Barcelona are currently the only remaining unbeaten team in Europe, as Manchester City's own stellar streak was extinguished by Liverpool at Anfield. Here we take a look at 5 reasons why Barcelona have been so extraordinarily good in La Liga and why they've managed to pull so far ahead of their rivals:
#5 Valverde's tactical success
After being thrust into the managerial post at FC Barcelona in the summer of 2017, Ernesto Valverde has certainly justified his appointment and is well on his way towards repaying the faith placed in him by the board.
For this season, Valverde has stuck with a balanced 4-4-2 system, compared to the 4-3-3 or 3-4-3 system utilized by Luis Enrique in previous seasons. Valverde's awareness of balance and solidity, whilst disallowing any weakness towards the opposing team has worked dividends for his side.
Valverde's system deploys his fullbacks to engage in combination play with supporting players such as Andres Iniesta and Ivan Rakitic. This, in turn, enables them to trouble stretched opposition defences.
Furthermore, Valverde's has managed to extract some quality performances from new signing Paulinho, who has been deployed as a link between the midfield and the attacking front two of Messi and Suarez. His physicality and aerial threat have been put to good use and the stats speak for themselves.
Perhaps most importantly, Valverde's system imparts a free roaming role to Lionel Messi, allowing him to seek out spaces to manipulate and inflict damage upon oppositions.