Since last August 15, on the first day of LaLiga, the Blaugrana team was not in the ‘top 3’ of the classification.
Team is very strong now
They have had to spend six months and twenty days for Barcelona to recover its status as a ‘top 3’ team in LaLiga . Only on the first day, in mid-August, the Blaugrana team had positioned itself among the first, specifically in third place, after beating Real Sociedad 4-2 at the Camp Nou . That day he added the 3 points, but Real Madrid and Sevilla were ahead as they had a better goal difference. On matchday two, the Blaugrana dropped one place, to fourth, after drawing at San Mames against Athletic (1-1). Position they maintained on matchday three, thanks to a narrow victory against Getafe at home (2-1). Curiously, on that third day , it was the closest Barcelona came to the lead, adding 7 points, the same as the leader, Real Madrid , and four other teams (Sevilla, Atletico, Valencia and Mallorca).
Fourth round of La liga
But from the fourth day, Koeman’s team fell apart in the standings: a postponed game (Sevilla at the Sanchez Pizjuán) and two consecutive draws (Granada and Cadiz) took the team down from the Champions zone, until they were relegated to ninth place, on the twelfth matchday, eleven points behind the then leader, Real Sociedad. That was the ‘real’ panorama of the team that Xavi Hernández took over at the beginning of November. Four months later, the team has climbed to third position, tied with Atlético de Madrid , on 48 points, but with the ‘plus’ that the Blaugrana still have to play the match against Rayo at the Camp Nou to be in the same conditions as the rest. 203 days later, Barcelona only has two rivals ahead of it, Real Madrid and Sevilla.