The stats from Quique Setién’s first game as Barça manager leave plenty of room for optimism. Granada were beaten 1-0, while setting season highs for both possession (82.6%) and passes (1,005).
It was only the third time that a Liga team has made 1,000+ passes in a single match since 2005/06.
And it was Barça’s highest possession in a game since the 84% on 11 May 2011, away to Levante with Pep Guardiola in charge.
The highest percentage so far this season was the 76.7% against Leganés, while the most passes was 788 against Betis in the first game of the season at Camp Nou. That’s 217 fewer than against Granada today, and of the 1,005 passes, 921 were good.
Busquets record
Sergio Busquets led the way with 157 passes (and 145 completed), which are both Liga records for the current season.
Samuel Umtiti was second with 111, which are 22 more than his previous best this season, and Lionel Messi’s 93 are a similar improvement of 20 passes more than he had made in any game before today.
