Three games into its 2025/2026 La Liga campaign, Barça find themselves sitting fourth in the table with seven out of a potential nine points secured. Considering all three fixtures being away games – due to the Blaugrana’s seemingly never-ending stadium delays, a seven-point return is not exactly the worst. However, there are rising concerns about the team’s defensive solidity (or lack thereof).
Through three matchdays, Barcelona have conceded more big chances (12) than any other team in La Liga, according to Sofascore, with an alarming 11 of those occurring in the team’s last two matches. In comparison, through the same number of fixtures last season, they had only allowed four.
Before we engage in any analysis, it’s important to establish how these “big chances” are defined. For Sofascore, the metric is defined as:“ Clear-cut opportunities where a player is expected to score- usually one-on-one situations or shots from close range with minimal defensive pressure.”
Let’s examine these instances.
Matchday 1: Mallorca (A) – 1 Big Chance Conceded
Big Chance 1/12
Twenty minutes into the game, Barça clear away Mallorca’s first corner of the game. Lamine Yamal is leading the break, but as he attempts to play Alejandro Balde through into the open space, his pass is intercepted.
After a series of unfortunate rebounds, Mallorca find themselves with a clear numerical advantage in Barcelona’s box.
Muriqi finds himself with a clear shot at goal, but he places it straight at Joan Garcia.
Though a little careless in launching the break and losing the ball in a dangerous situation as a result, this chance is just as much the result of football’s inherent chaos.
It is worth noting that Mallorca went on to play much of the remainder of this game undermanned, as Muriqi and Morlanes both picked up red cards before the half.
Matchday 2: Levante (A) – 6 Big Chances Conceded
So far, this has been Barcelona’s worst defensive performance of the season, judging by this metric. Despite only holding 18% possession, Levante were repeatedly able to commit numbers forward on the breaks, creating danger in the Blaugrana box.
Big Chance 2/12
Around the 15th minute, Yamal fails a dribble attempt past Levante’s left back, Manuel Sanchez.
Sanchez drives the ball forward and combines with Morales on the left wing. A miscommunication between Eric Garcia and Marc Casado leaves Sanchez’s run unmarked. The latter finds himself in acres of space behind Barcelona’s defensive line.
On the opposite side, Balde tracks Brugué’s run. However, Levante’s right back, Toljan, pushes up fast to join the attack and is completely unmarked. He’s free at the backpost. Barça’s midfield is completely out of the picture, and a simple cutback sets up Romero in a 1v1 with Cubarsi.
A clever body feint is enough to bypass him and slot it low past Joan Garcia. 1-0 Levante.
Big Chances 3/12 & 4/12
A Barcelona set-piece turns into a scramble for the ball, with Lamine Yamal losing it at the edge of Levante’s box.
The home team immediately launches another counter. Once more, Levante have a significant numerical advantage, with only Balde positioned behind the ball for Barcelona.
Brugué is played into the space by Romero.
As Levante’s #7 arms his shot (big chance #3), Balde makes a spectacular last-ditch effort to block it.
However, a (controversial) penalty ensues from Morales’ follow-up attempt.
Essentially a continuation of the previous chance, there is not much to say about this one. VAR deems Balde’s hand position illegal, and Morales converts the spot kick (big chance #4) to make it 2-0.
Big Chance 5/12
One minute into the second half, the first Barça attack breaks down, and one pass is all it takes for Levante to be on the break once more with Manuel Sánchez.
After a switch of play to Toljan, once more pushing up high to join the attack, Brugué offers a run at the edge of the offside line and in between Barça’s two center backs.
The action concludes with a difficult shot from a tight angle, straight into Garcia’s gloves.
Big Chances 6/12 & 7/12
Right after Barcelona’s equalizer, the Blaugrana’s defense shows more signs of feebleness. This time, the back four is poorly aligned, with Eric Garcia lagging behind the furthest, and playing Brugué onside.
Brugué can then benefit from Morlanes’ previous offside position and pick him out.
However, the ball is a little long. Joan Garcia is also quick off his line to close the angle.
In the follow-up, Levante can generate another chance. Barcelona’s defensive alignment is poor once more, allowing Manu Sanchez to run in behind and cut it back across the box. Joan Garcia makes another stop.
Matchday 3: Rayo Vallecano (A)- 5 Big Chances Conceded
A notoriously difficult fixture, the Blaugrana’s visit to Vallecas this season was even more hectic than usual, with a failing VAR system and a pitch condition unworthy of the Spanish top flight. Barcelona scraped a 1-1 draw, mostly thanks to Joan Garcia’s heroics in goal. Let’s look at the 5 big chances conceded from this one.
Big Chance 8/12
Rayo’s first dangerous opportunity came at the 12th minute of the game. At the root, another instance of a poorly aligned defensive four.
In this case, Isi Palazon, by drifting onto the left touchline, has created an overload. Kounde, without the support of a winger or a midfielder, has two players to be responsible for.
Once the Frenchman commits to Palazon, the latter can simply play the ball into the path of Alvaro Garcia.
Rațiu, who timed his run to perfection, finds himself ahead of both centerbacks and, if not for an incredible recovery from Joan Garcia, would have secured the opener for Rayo.
Big Chance 9/12
This time, Rayo’s threat comes from a corner kick.
In the initial setup, we can identify three matchups at the backpost: Alejandro Balde with De Frutos (#19), Ferran Torres with Fran Pérez (#21), and Jules Koundé with Pathé Ismaël Ciss (#6).
As the inswinger comes in, a mix-up occurs: with both Torres and Koundé tracking Ciss, Fran Pérez is by himself at the backpost for a volley. 1-1 Rayo.
Big Chance 10/12
Similar to Rayo’s first scoring opportunity, we’re looking at Palazon drifting wide to receive directly from his goalkeeper again.
As he receives, De Frutos is timing a run in between Barcelona’s CB pairing. Once more, the alignment isn’t optimal, and with how much time Palazon is afforded on the ball without pressure, he picks out a perfect pass into his teammate’s run.
De Frutos can drive the ball all the way past the penalty spot unchallenged, but again, Joan Garcia extinguishes the fire and sends the ball into a corner kick.
Big Chances 11 & 12
Pedri is dispossessed in the middle of the park after a borderline challenge, and Rayo have another free run at Barça’s defense.
Pedro Diaz sets up Fran Pérez, the goalscorer, for a shot inside the box. This was counted by Sofascore as the 11th big chance allowed by Barcelona this season.
The 12th and final chance is Camello’s rebound attempt following Garcia’s first save. It also finds its way into the gloves of Barça’s summer signing.
Note: Before we move on to the takeaways segment, it’s worth noting that chances 11 & 12 stem from a missed offside call. One could argue that, because of VAR’s absence in MD3, the 12 big chances conceded figure is slightly inflated.
What’s not clicking for Barcelona’s defense?
An ineffective high line
The first thing that stands out while watching Barcelona’s defense this season is the ineffectiveness of its offside trap compared to last season. On multiple instances, the back four’s alignment is off. What felt like a harmonious unit before now feels disjointed and disconnected.
Why such a drastic shift? Barcelona did lose Iñigo Martínez, who was largely credited with being the leader of Hansi Flick’s backline last season. Earlier this season, the German manager expressed his concerns over losing the 34-year-old center-back.
“He was a player who helped the rest of the players a lot. He knew what to do, he followed what he was told… he was one of the leaders in the dressing room.”
The Basque defender’s departure – without the signing of a replacement- has left a giant hole in Barça’s defense, and someone will need to step up and assume his leadership role if Flick hopes to replicate last season’s feats.
However, it is important to clear up the misconception that a team’s defensive performance is strictly the defenders’ responsibility. In an aggressive system like Flick’s, the first line of defense must be the forward line, and without an intense counter-press on the opponents after turnovers, the team will be exposed to danger, regardless of the backline’s efforts.
Individual mistakes and a lack of intensity
As evident in a few of the examples above, Barça have also been the victim of player midjudgements. Communication errors and turnovers in dangerous areas are two recurring themes for a significant portion of the chances the team has allowed.
In Flick’s own blunt words, after the draw to Rayo Vallecano, “We lacked intensity, we made a lot of mistakes. We can play better.”
A lack of intensity has been a talking point surrounding the Blaugrana since the league opener. After Mallorca’s two red cards in the first half, Barcelona played an uninspiring brand of football, settling for conservative decisions and showing minimal interest in attacking a weakened opponent.
These flat performances are a stark contrast to the hunger Flick’s team showed last season. If the Blaugrana seek to compete for all trophies again, the team must look inward to reignite the fire it’s missing.
Is it time to sound the alarm?
It is important to contextualize the start of Barcelona’s season. Considering all three fixtures were played away, seven points out of a possible nine remains a commendable tally.
However, the team’s performances haven’t exactly lived up to the standard set last campaign. To correct the ship’s course, Flick and his staff certainly have their work cut out.
With any transfer deadline distractions out of the picture, and the international break giving the team a chance to reset, tonight’s home game vs Valencia will be a chance for the Blaugrana to go back to their winning ways.
