FCBARCELONA.CAT

26.10.2008 17:59

Best start for a Barça manager

Marc Guillén

Josep Guardiola has made the best start of any Barça manager in the club’s recent history.

Not including the Champions League qualifiers against Wisla Krakow, Guardiola’s results are the best by a Barça manager in his first season since Vic Buckingham in the 1970/71 campaign.

More wins

So far this season Barça has racked up nine wins, a draw and a defeat. None of Barça’s seventeen previous managers achieved as many wins in their first eight League games and three European fixtures in their debut seasons.

So Guardiola has the best numbers for a first season in charge of Barça since the 1970/71 campaign.

Great start to the League

Despite losing away at Numància and drawing its second game with Racing Santander in the League, Barça has made an excellent start to the campaign. Indeed, it has only been bettered in the last ten years by the beginning to the 2004/05 season: Guardiola’s Barça has picked up 19 out of a possible 24 points, while Frank Rijkaard’s team got 22 on the way to their first League title.

Nine wins on the bounce

Barça has now won nine games in a row in the League and Champions League. This is a rare achievement as the side has only done it on one other occasion in the last five campaigns, when it put together an historic run of 19 consecutive wins in the 2005/06 season.