24.03.2009 14:44
24 goals away from history
Berta Brau
FC Barcelona are on good course to beat the all-time league record of 107 goals in a season. They have 84 already, three more than the current record holder had scored at this stage of the campaign.
That was Real Madrid in the 1989/90 season. Under current Wales manager John Toshack, the
all-whites scored 107 times in a single season. The record has remained intact for 19 seasons, but
Pep Guardiola’s Barça could well top it this year.
Three more goals
The 84 goals that FC Barcelona have scored in 28 games are three more
than Toshack’s Madrid had accumulated at this same stage of the season in 89/90. That means
Barça need 23 more goals to equal the record, and 24 to beat it.
Looking good
Scoring 24 goals in ten games is quite some feat, but judging by the way their season has
gone so far, Barça can feel quietly confident. They have scored an average of three goals a game
this term, yet don’t need to match that to break the record, they ‘only’ need 2.4
goals a game. And after all, if this season, in just four games, Barça managed to accumulate 24
goals, then surely it is realistic enough to expect them to do likewise in ten!
Barça simply better
At this stage of the season, Guardiola’s Barça has better stats
that Real Madrid did under Toshack in just about every aspect. Not only have they won two more
games (22 for Barça and 20 for Madrid), but they have also looked better in defence, Valdés letting
in just 24 goals while Buyo had leaked 27 by the 28th game of the 1989/90 campaign.
Messi, Henry and Eto'o, lethal
Of Barça’s 84 goals in La Liga, more than half were the work of the trio of Messi, Henry and
Eto'o. These three have amassed an amazing 59 goals between them.
In fact, Real Madrid, with 66 goals, is the only club in all of the first division that, as a
team, has managed to score more goals than the threesome of Henry, Messi and ‘pichichi’
Eto'o.