The home giants: Barcelona have turned Camp Nou into a fortress under Xavi

Camp Nou has always been a venue to reckon with. This season alone, Barcelona have made the iconic stadium an absolute fortress again, to say the very season, at least in the league.

To begin with, the team from Catalonia is yet to lose a game this season. If we are to pick their recent form, they are coming on the back of a 3-0 win over Sevilla where the likes of Jordi Alba, Gavi and Raphinha were on the scoresheet.

Before that, if we are to consider only the league form, Pedri’s only goal had guided them to a 1-0 win over Getafe. If we are to put our head’s into it, one can safely assume that this form aids pretty well for Barcelona as they await the visit of Manchester United in the Europa League.

As reiterated before, Barcelona’s home form in the league is scintillating to the extent they are yet to lose a game this season. A return of eight wins in 10 games and two losses while scoring 22 goals and one conceded is impeccable.

This takes their win percentage to a whopping 80% in the league as compared to 63% in the previous season and a lowly 57% in the 2020-21 season.

What comes into play is Barcelona’s away form in the European competitions. One must remember the away fixture against AS Roma in 2018. While Barcelona did win the home leg rather comfortably 3-1- they lost 3-0 away from home in Italy owing to Kostas Manolas’ 82nd-minute header.

In this context, one must also consider Barcelona’s away leg against Liverpool during the 2018-19 UEFA Champions League campaign. After winning the first leg rather comfortably 3-0, they went on to concede 4-0 at Anfield, losing the game 4-3 on aggregate.

The aforementioned details pretty much explain that while Barcelona does have a tendency to win games relatively easily at home, they do tend to lose the plot at away from home and it must be remembered that playing Manchester United away from home is no fluke.

The Red Devils are yet to lose a game at home in their last 17 outings. In fact, they are yet to lose at home since September 2022 when they dropped points against Real Sociedad 0-1 in the group stage of the Europa League. Most recently, too, they came back from 0-2 down against Leeds United to level the score 2-2.

This includes wins over Tottenham Hotspurs, West Ham United, Everton, Manchester City and Crystal Palace.

So for what it’s worth, Barcelona must keep in mind that while their home form is impeccable, they must continue to deliver away from home.