Barcelona continue to struggle from set pieces, as the absence of Lionel Messi remains firmly in the mind of Cules.
When the Paris Saint-Germain star was playing for them, set pieces were one of the most dangerous teams in the world from free-kicks, with some even describing close in fouls as long penalties when Messi was at his best.
However Barcelona have now brought up two full years without a goal scored directly from a free-kick. Marca point out that it is a full 41 attempts with a 0% success rate. The last free-kick they did score was Messi’s effort against Valencia in a 3-1 win on the 2nd of May, 2021.
Robert Lewandowski was the latest to try on Saturday against Real Betis, but his effort was comfortable for goalkeeper Rui Silva. Raphinha’s nine attempts are the most of any of the bachelors to try since, but is one of 11 to try his luck. In theory, Raphinha, Lewandowski, Marcos Alonso, previously Memphis Depay and Philippe Coutinho are all specialists, but none have broken the duck since.
“We practice them at the end of each training session, every day. We get few free kicks around the box and we have to generate more. If you see them train… I’m confident that one of these days we’ll score free kicks,” Xavi Hernandez has said on the matter.
As things stand, breaking up a promising Barcelona attack on the edge of the box is a statistical advantage compared to letting it go. It is a key threat to be removed from a team, and it will be an area in which they can get significantly better in.
