36 goals, 4.5 per game and counting: Stop Barca if you can!

Barcelona are making four goals a game look almost ordinary.

Hansi Flick's side extended their perfect LaLiga start to seven matches with yesterday’s 3-1 victory at Sevilla, following up on the 7-2 demolition of Racing Santander in midweek. They have now scored 31 goals in seven league games, an average of 4.43 per match. Across all competitions, they have 36 in eight, or 4.5 a game.

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They have now scored 31 goals in seven league games, an average of 4.43 per match. Across all competitions, they have 36 in eight, or 4.5 a game.

Those numbers are ridiculous enough on their own. The underlying data makes them even harder to dismiss.

The Blaugrana are averaging 21 shots and 8.5 shots on target per La Liga match, while their average expected-goals figure stands at 4.22 per game. They are not simply converting an unusual percentage of half-chances. They are generating them in bulk.

The Blaugrana are averaging 21 shots and 8.5 shots on target per La Liga match, while their average expected-goals figure stands at 4.22 per game.

Racing Santander provided the clearest illustration.

Barcelona won 7-2, but the scoreline arguably undersold the mismatch. They produced 30 shots to Racing's five, nine shots on target to three and 6.65 expected goals to 1.86. They also had 18 corners to none and 12 big chances to three. The seven goals were the finish to an attacking performance that could have produced considerably more.

Then came Sevilla, and that is where the numbers become more interesting.

This was not another home mismatch against an overwhelmed opponent. Sevilla scored first, had the physicality to disrupt Barcelona early and were competing at the top end of the table. Barcelona's response was not to survive the awkward spell. They simply created more.

The visitors finished with 24 shots to Sevilla's six, 69 per cent possession, 18 key passes and roughly 3.0 xG to 0.4 according to Sporting Life's match data. Five big chances became three goals.

In other words, the 3-1 was not an escape. It was another game in which Barcelona's attacking process overwhelmed the opposition.

And now Raphinha is becoming the statistical symbol of it.

The Brazilian scored his second consecutive hat-trick, having also taken three against Racing, and his Sevilla treble moved him to 12 La Liga goals in seven matches. That is 1.71 goals per league appearance. He has scored 12 of Barcelona's 31 league goals, meaning he alone accounts for nearly 39 per cent of their total.

Raphinha scored his second consecutive hat-trick, having also taken three against Racing, and his Sevilla treble moved him to 12 La Liga goals in seven matches. That is 1.71 goals per league appearance. He has scored 12 of Barcelona's 31 league goals, meaning he alone accounts for nearly 39 per cent of their total.

The remarkable part is where those goals are coming from.

Raphinha is being used centrally, but Barcelona are not asking him to behave like a traditional No. 9. He drifts, rotates and attacks spaces created by movement around him. Against Sevilla, two of his goals were assisted by Lamine Yamal, who has already scored seven league goals this season. Yamal also registered two assists against Racing.

That gives Barcelona a particularly awkward problem for defenders: there is no single attacking route to shut down.

Take away Raphinha's movement and Yamal can create. Track Yamal closely and space opens elsewhere. Sit deep and Barcelona can sustain pressure. Step out and their runners can attack the space behind.

The numbers suggest this is not a team relying on one hot finisher either. Barcelona have scored five or more goals in five of their first seven games, while Raphinha has supplied a huge share of the headline numbers.

Barca's goal fest by numbers: 31 goals in 7 La Liga matches 4.43 goals per league game 21 shots per game 8.5 shots on target per game 4.22 xG per game 12 Raphinha goals in 7 league games 6.65 xG vs Racing Santander 24-6 Barcelona's shot advantage vs Sevilla

There is also a useful distinction between finishing form and chance creation.

A team can score 31 goals through a run of outrageous finishing and eventually come back towards normal levels. Barcelona are making that argument harder because their chance generation is itself abnormal. The 6.65 xG against Racing was not a lucky evening. Against Sevilla, they created around three expected goals away from home and still found three goals.

That is the part of Flick's Barcelona that should worry the rest of La Liga.

They are not merely scoring at an unsustainable rate. They are producing enough shots, shots on target, possession and high-value chances to keep giving themselves permission to score at an unsustainable rate.

And there is another layer to it.

Barcelona have now won seven straight in La Liga and eight consecutive matches in all competitions, setting the tone for a start in which the attack has become a statistical outlier.

Barcelona have now won seven straight in La Liga and eight consecutive matches in all competitions, setting the tone for a start in which the attack has become a statistical outlier.

The obvious question is whether the machine can maintain this against the biggest opponentsThat test is coming soon enough. But the early evidence is already uncomfortable  for everyone else