Four matches into the La Liga season, Barcelona has looked like one of the greatest attacking teams of all time. What other conclusion can I draw from the club's start? With Sunday's 5-0 whomping of Valencia away at the Mestalla, Barcelona has now played four matches, notched four decisive wins (5-0 vs. Elche, 2-0 vs. Athletic Bilbao, and 5-2 vs. Rayo Vallecano were the others), scored a ludicrous 17 goals, and conceded only two. The Barcelona monster has been gluttonous from the word go, and the way that the blaugrana has been performing is more than sustainable, even if the actual tallies are out-of-this-world unbelievable.
About that Valencia match: The Bats are a disaster of a club, mired in last place domestically with just one point, and its fans are currently feuding openly with ownership. It's hard enough to keep up with Barcelona, never mind to actually beat the Catalan giant, and so there was little question about the result on Sunday. Lamine Yamal opened the scoring in the sixth minute with a feathered chip past Valencia goalie Stole Dimitrievski, and it went downhill for Valencia from there.
LAMINE YAMAL PUTS IT OVER THE KEEPER 🔥
— ESPN FC (@espnfc-m.bsky.social) 2026-09-06T09:28:35-05:00
Focusing too much on Valencia's dysfunction does Barcelona's efficiency a disservice. Despite whiffing on its biggest attacking transfer target this summer (Julián Alvarez, whose open desire to move to Barcelona was shut down by Atlético Madrid), Barcelona has not faltered going forward, and how could it, when it has Lamine (four goals, split between two braces in his last two matches) and Fermín López (four goals and two assists) and Raphinha (six goals, one assist)? All three of those stars scored on Sunday, as did midfield metronome Pedri, while Dani Olmo, one of Spain's best players at its successful World Cup this summer, assisted twice. How does an opponent stop so many stars that know exactly how to play with each other? The answer so far has been a resounding "They can't," and it gets even more impressive once its newest attacker is factored into the game plan.
Former Newcastle United winger Anthony Gordon has settled into his boyhood dream with ridiculous aplomb. The €70 million man has been a playmaking monster since joining, notching a league-leading four assists (including this absurd backheel to set up Raphinha against Rayo Vallecano) and giving Barcelona an additional dimension on the left wing. Gordon hasn't scored yet, but he hasn't needed to, and his 1.5 key passes per game is third on the team, behind Raphinha's 2.5 and Lamine's 4.5 (god, Lamine is ridiculous). He's also carrying the ball well; his average distance per carry (defined as any action where a player moves the ball five or more meters from where he first receives it) is second on the team and first among starters, with a 12.2 meter average. (For reference, fellow new signing Karim Adeyemi leads the club at 13.7, and Lamine is third with an 11.0 average.)
In Hansi Flick's 4-3-3/4-2-3-1 hybrid tactical formation, and with Raphinha playing a fluid role as the nominal striker, Barcelona just has too many tools to contend with, none more terrifying than its talismanic teenager. Lamine is undoubtedly the best attacking engine in the world, consistently looking for the deadly passes that leave his teammates with easy chances. Aside from that key pass stat above, Lamine has also played 29 more final-third passes than second-place Pedri, has shot 10 more times than Raphinha (23 to 13), and has the most forward carries with the ball. And if an opponent can stop Lamine from dominating, good luck keeping Pedri from creating, Raphinha from scoring, or Gordon from terrorizing the left wing.
Hell, I haven't even mentioned Barcelona's other marquee signing this summer: World Cup Golden Ball winner Rodri, whom Barcelona plied from Manchester City for €76.5 million. Though he is still getting up to speed after his late transfer, Rodri has been stellar next to Pedri in a double pivot of sorts in just over 115 minutes of action. (I say "of sorts" because Rodri's stalwart bossing of the midfield allows Pedri more freedom to connect the ball from defense to attack, and he's better than pretty much anyone in the world at that role.) Once he gets comfortable in Flick's system, Rodri will extend Barcelona's dominance even further from the opponent goal.
There are caveats to these performances, of course. Barcelona hasn't played a side higher than 10th on the table as it currently stands. Barca pushed their opponents down the table by whomping them all, but only Athletic can be considered a top La Liga side. The reigning and defending champions have also slightly overperformed their expected goals count (15.8 xG vs. 17 actual goals), though even that is misleading in Barca's favor, as it should have beaten Athletic by even more if xG is to be believed. Four games is not a big enough sample size for xG to prove definitive, as it's best used for season-long trends, but it can be used here as supplementary evidence that Barcelona is really fucking good, and only a little bit lucky so far. And, unless Raphinha continues his torrid start as a nominal No. 9, the club might miss having a steady striker who can be counted on for goals when defenses get tougher: With Robert Lewandowski playing in Chicago now, and the mess that was the Alvarez saga, the first team has no real striker.
The defense will also still have to contend with Flick's brilliant yet oftentimes lunatic high line. World Cup star Pau Cubarsí has a lot more work to do for club than country, and though he is improving, last season showed that he can get caught out by how far up the field Flick has his backline play, no matter which of Barcelona's other center backs (Gerard Martín, Andreas Christensen, Eric Garcia, and maybe even Jules Koundé) are lined up next to him. Rayo's first goal on Aug. 31 was created by just this issue, as the visitors blitzed the right side of Barcelona's defense on the counter from just inside the halfway line and finished with a nifty cutback and Sergio Camello finish. (The second Rayo goal highlighted Barcelona's other weakness in defense: set pieces. Camello scored a header from a corner.)
None of that can mask the fact that Barcelona looks like a completely different animal than even last season, when it walked away with the title by a comfortable eight-point margin. This is Flick's first time managing a side for a third year since he left Hoffenheim in 2005, and he has familiarity with his vastly talented, if lopsided, roster. The addition of Gordon has added a playmaking aspect that even the Englishman might not have expected to provide.
This is a well-oiled La Liga machine, and with Real Madrid working under a new (and old) boss in Jose Mourinho and coming off a loss to Real Betis this past weekend, Barcelona has come out of the early-season rush as the clear favorite to win the league for a third straight year. The real questions will come up in the Champions League, which starts back up in the league phase this week with a home match against Feyenoord. If the first four La Liga matches are to be believed, though, Barcelona might just be a juggernaut in Spain and out of it. At the very least, the goals should keep on coming.
