Barcelona surprised many by thumping Bayern Munich 4-1 at Montjuic on Wednesday night, after a tight half hour between the two. The Catalan side saw Bayern raise the pace against their high line, but they managed to live with it.
As per MD, Barcelona ran 26.5km more during their victory this week (126.55km) compared to 98km that they completed against Bayern in 2020, when they were handed an 8-2 defeat. Clearly there is a difference between running hard and smart, but such a stark difference is notable. Bayern ran a total of 120.6km at Montjuic, while Barcelona were the side that ran the most during matchday three of the Champions League group stage. In their last two meetings with Bayern in the group stages, Barcelona ran 118.6km and 117.8km.
The fitness work at Barcelona has been one of the stories of the season, after Sporting Director Deco revamped their fitness team, bringing in former Antonio Conte assistant Julio Tous, alongside other recruits from Sevilla (Pepe Conde) and Real Sociedad (Rafa Maldonado). According to The Athletic, the players were not especially impressed with the work being done at the club, and one of those who felt he wasn’t getting the best out of himself as a result was Raphinha.
They say the Brazilian hired his own fitness team last season to work with him individually, but after the arrival of Tous and the new conditioning staff, he then dropped them again.
Certainly Barcelona look as fit as they have done for a long time, the question will be whether they can maintain that for the rest of the season. Under Hansi Flick, Barcelona have been playing a demanding press and a high line, which could be difficult to replicate in April or May.
Image via Cadena SER