Goals from the bench

Ernesto Valverde has been key in FC Barcelona’s latest games, with his changes seeing goals in four consecutive matches from players who started on the bench. Goals that have earned valuable points in the League, a great result in the Copa del Rey and qualification to the knockout stages of the Champions League.

The first goal of the streak came from Arturo Vidal. The Chilean had only been on the pitch for a few minutes when his header ensured a final score of 5-1 in El Clásico. Three days later, Clement Lenglet came on in the second half of the Copa del Rey match against Cultural Leonesa and scored a late winner.

This run continued in Vallecas, where Dembélé scored a late equaliser to begin the comeback, and the last to add his name to the list was Malcom, who was Barça’s only scorer at the Giuseppe Meazza.

Coutinho and Munir fatten the list

This streak can be explained by Ernesto Valverde’s excellent reading of games. In fact, before this season, both Coutinho (against Alavés) and Munir (against Athletic Club) also scored decisive goals in the League having started as a substitute.