Barcelona’s attacking form has eased concerns over their lack of a traditional striker, with Barcelona goals continuing to flow during their perfect start to the La Liga season.
Hansi Flick’s side stepped up a gear and went 5-0 against Valencia on Sunday to be level with the leading side in the table. The attacking depth that the champions have is also clearly demonstrated by their four league games, in which they have netted 17 goals. Pedri is confident that Barcelona can continue to score without signing their preferred target of summer, Julian Alvarez.
“Normally, people always want a player who will score 40 goals a year but I can tell you, this team isn’t going to be a team which will fall short on goals.” Pedri told Spanish television channel Movistar.
Barcelona have changed their thinking, employing Raphinha in the centre-forward and Lamine Yamal and Anthony Gordon on the wings. The system has enabled the forwards to change positions with each other and have created space by constant movement for Flick.
At the opposition of Valencia, Yamal began the attack within the first six minutes and Fermin Lopez, Raphinha and Pedri followed with further goals. Yamal got the job done in style with his second of the night as Barcelona had another emphatic attack.
They had an amazing run starting with a 5-0 win at Elche on 23 August. This was followed by a 2-0 victory over Athletic Club and a 5-2 victory over Rayo Vallecano. Flick also had the luxury of some extra attacking pieces in the summer as Gabriel Jesus and Karim Adeyemi both played in for Valencia.
Barcelona’s task will now be to keep up the pressure against stiffer competition. In the meantime, however, their early findings indicate that such a lack of a run around No.9 hasn’t hampered them from their attacking arsenal much. Barcelona have won four games and are favourite favourites to keep their league title, but Valencia are bottom with one point from four matches played.
