18.03.2010 12:21
The 4-0 win in figures
Roger Bogunyà
Wednesday night brought four goals and qualification of the quarter finals, bringing the final at the Bernabéu a step closer. But much more than that happened in the 90 minutes.
- Barça shot 16 times and Stuttgart just twice, and never on target. Valdés did not have to make a
single save.
- The core of the Barça defence, Piqué and Puyol, both one yellow off a suspension, only made
one foul between them. That was committed by Puyol. Of the whole Barça defence, only 6 fouls were
made, 4 by Alves.
- In the visiting side, it was the attackers that made the most fouls, Cacau (5) and
Pogrebnyak (4). Despite this frontline of pressure FC Barcelona were able to pass the ball around
comfortably at the back.
- Losing Xavi supposedly took the direction out of midfield. Touré Yaya
took his place and did a tremendous job. He helped out in attack, and laid on the second goal. He
was the most active of all the midfield players.
- Pedro scored his 17th goal of the season in the game with Stuttgart, the same number that
he wears on his shirt. He is now more PR17 than ever.
- Until Pedro made it 2-0, Messi had scored the last seven Barça goals. Since his winner
against Málaga, and then his goals against Almería and Valencia, every goal was converted by Messi.
- Ibrahimovic was not in the starting eleven for the seventh time this season. Until the game
with Stuttgart, he had scored every time he came on as sub. But he did provide an assist for Bojan.
- Captain Puyol is the sixth most captained player in Champions League
history. He has done this role 55 times, only topped by Maldini (77), Kahn (65), Terry (65),
Zanetti (63) and Keane (59). He has now overtaken Raúl (54).
- Although he didn’t get on, Seydou Keita was named in the squad for the first time in
over a month, after getting injured against Atlético Madrid.
- Henry, who had a good attacking game against Valencia, started the game, his first since
the league fixture with Racing.
- Bojan only touched the ball once in his five minutes on pitch. And he scored.
23 clean sheets
Following last night’s European game, FC Barcelona have gone 23 games without conceding a
goal this season. In the League, this was against Sporting Gijón (2), Getafe, Málaga, Almería,
Valencia (2), Madrid, Xerez, Espanyol, Tenerife, Sevilla, Valladolid and Racing, 15 games. They
also kept clean sheets in the second leg of the Spanish Super Cup against Athletic Club, in the cup
matches with Cultural Leonesa (2) and Sevilla and in the Champions League against Inter (2), Dynamo
Kiev, Rubin Kazan and Stuttgart. That 23 is one shy of last season’s tally of 24, but there
are still 14 games left to play.
* The (2) means that Barça didn’t let in a goal in either of the games they played
against them.