The Reasons Why Barcelona Is Favored Over Real Madrid in El Clasico.

El Clasico: The Reasons Why Barcelona Is the Favorite Over Real Suppose that I informed you

prior to the commencement of the season that a team in Spain would score an excessive number of goals, potentially leading scorekeepers throughout the nation to refuse to work in protest of their unjustly demanding working conditions. The leading goal scorer in Europe would be produced by this team. In the course of ten matches, they would score 33 goals. By the end of October, they would have scored eight more goals than any other team on the continent. You would have absorbed this information, inclined your head, and responded, “Certainly.” Real Madrid completed the LaLiga-and-Champions-League double last year, and subsequently acquired the world’s most talented attacker. They already had Vinícius Júnior, the Ballon d’Or favorite, and now they have Kylian Mbappé! “Everyone else is doomed.” You, of course, would have been incorrect. Barcelona’s offense has achieved these seldom-seen levels in Spain over the course of ten games, as opposed to Real Madrid’s. Madrid continues to maintain an undefeated record and is only three points behind their eternal rivals in the table; however, the journey has been arduous. Madrid has scored three goals in a LaLiga game only twice this season, while Barcelona has won five league matches by a margin of at least three goals. One team in Spain appears to be an all-time best attacking side, and it is not the one featuring Vinícius, Mbappé, and Jude Bellingham. Madrid continues to be the betting favorite to retain the LaLiga title, and there is still a significant amount of the season remaining. However, it is clear which team has performed best through the first 10 games of the season. Barcelona is currently operating at maximum efficiency, while Real Madrid has yet to achieve adequate performance. • To view El Clásico live at 3 p.m. ET on Saturday, subscribe to ESPN+. So, how did Barcelona surpass Madrid? In anticipation of the El Clasico, which will be broadcast live on ESPN+ on Saturday, let us examine the rationale, which is presented in ascending order of

This may appear to be “normal” due to the nearly perfect alignment of the numbers; however, the most successful teams in the world consistently surpass their fundamental numbers in the attacking department due to the abundance of opportunities they create for the world’s most talented attackers. The majority of managers depart a club following an unsustainably dismal season, which is likely to have recovered somewhat on its own. This was the case for Xavi Hernandez at Barcelona last season. Nevertheless, Hansi Flick, who assumed the role of Barcelona’s manager this season, has a significantly different narrative. His team has scored 33 goals from 26.4 xG in 10 matches: Currently, Barcelona would have a plus-16 goal difference if they were completing at the same rate as last season. It would remain the league’s highest mark, but it would be only marginally superior to Real Madrid’s plus-14 or even Atletico Madrid’s current plus-10. In contrast, Barcelona are at a maximum of plus-23. Hansi Flick is a significant improvement over Xavi. It is not startling, but it is still important to note that the individual who won the Champions League is a superior coach than the individual whose previous managerial experience was limited to Al Sadd in the Qatar Stars League. There is no reason to believe that Xavi was a subpar coach; however, he was merely a coach, as is the case with the majority of them. He had his own perspectives, but he was unable to implement any significant changes that would have enabled his players to surpass their collective aptitude level in the long term. Right now, Flick is undeniably controversial. Numerous individuals characterized him as “naive” during his time with Germany and even after his departure from Bayern. His teams consistently generated an extraordinary quantity of opportunities against their opponents; however, their aggression occasionally resulted in humiliating goals. His shortcomings as a coach were unequivocally demonstrated by Germany’s defeat to Japan and consequent elimination from the 2022 World Cup prior to the knockout round. In the 2022 World Cup’s group stages, Germany scored 10.1 anticipated goals and conceded 3.4. The issue was that they were only able to convert that dominance into six goals for and five against. The primary reason Flick failed to succeed with Germany is the significant fluctuation in finishing over a three-match sample. This is not to suggest that he is an ideal coach; however, the narrative in nearly every professional sport is that the majority of coaches are not sufficiently assertive. They are frequently more apprehensive about failing than they are inclined to be dedicated to victory. You are aware that Flick is one of the few coaches who does not believe that: his objective is to vanquish the opposition. His teams will exert themselves to the maximum, attempt an infinite number of shoots, and accept the likelihood that they will concede a few high-quality opportunities. The majority of organizations will improve as a result of this approach. Barcelona is indeed pressing more aggressively this season, commanding a greater amount of territory, taking a greater number of shots, and conceding fewer attempts. The following is a visual representation of the entirety of LaLiga when layered by passes allowed per defensive action (PPDA, a proxy for pressing aggression) and field tilt (or the team’s share of final-third possession):