The stats that prove how much Barcelona have improved under Xavi
Karan Tejwani
- 11 Apr 2022 14:31 BST
- 3 min read
Barcelona secured a win against Levante last night thanks to a dramatic late winner from Luuk de Jong in the 92nd minute and it ensured their positive run of form continued.
The Blaugrana are now unbeaten in their last 15 league matches – the longest run in Europe’s top five leagues – and have won their last seven on the bounce.
The result helped ensure they remained in second place, ahead of Sevilla, and continued a trend of them scoring important goals late on.
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De Jong’s goal last night was the 11th they’ve scored this season after the 84th minute under Xavi and they scored four in a similar timeframe under his predecessor, Ronald Koeman.
Out of those 15, 10 of them have been in scored in stoppage time.
This isn’t the first time De Jong has scored an important goal in added time either – earlier in February, he scored a 96th minute equalizer against Barcelona’s city rivals Espanyol to secure a point in a 2-2 draw.
Without those late goals beyond the 84th minute, Barcelona would be 12 points short, with many of their results likely to have ended in draws or losses.
If that was to be applied to the current table, it would mean Barcelona would’ve been on 48 points, sitting in seventh place, above Villarreal and behind Real Sociedad, and 24 points behind league leaders Real Madrid.
Xavi brought on Pedri, Gavi and Luuk de Jong.
✓ Gavi provided an assist.
✓ Pedri scored a goal.
✓ De Jong scored the winner.
Getting it right with the subs 👏 pic.twitter.com/6LaHhJO5v0— ESPN FC (@ESPNFC) April 10, 2022
Some of the more crucial late goals in Xavi’s reign have included Memphis Depay’s 84th-minute winner against Elche in March and Frenkie de Jong’s 87th-minnute goal against Alaves in a 1-0 away win.
Following his goal last night, De Jong has also proven his value to the squad.
The Dutch forward arrived under scrutiny, being labelled as a late panic deal, having come in on the last day of the summer transfer window following the departure of Antoine Griezmann.
However, he has enjoyed a successful spell, scoring seven goals across all competitions and winning his side some valuable points over the course of the season.
While it’s unlikely his loan deal is made permanent, this has been a fruitful move, with many calls for him to return to Louis van Gaal’s Dutch national team ahead of the World Cup this winter.
