FC Barcelona now boast a five-point cushion over Real Madrid and are eight points better off than Real Sociedad in third. Despite the current standings, it is well worth noting the nature of the two title hopefuls’ fixture schedule in the coming weeks. While Barça host two of the division’s top 10 teams in their next three games, Los Blancos do not face any of the sides currently lying in the top nine over the next three matchdays.

However, if we focus our attention on the on-field matters, we can see that Xavi’s troops have plenty of reasons to be satisfied. The Catalan giants lead the way in the LaLiga Santander charts in terms of their attacking build-up courtesy of the fact that their possessions feature more passes than any other team, as they regularly string together sustained passing moves. This facet of Barcelona’s game is clearly evident from this video and the graphic, which features Barcelona’s longest passing sequence in their last outing.

Barcelona welcome a Sevilla side to the Camp Nou that, despite having recorded a number of
encouraging results together in recent weeks, remain in a dire situation. Jorge Sampaoli’s men have
racked up three wins in their last four games and lie third in the LaLiga standings for the number of
passes per possession, with Xavi’s recruits topping this particular ranking.

As we can see in the following diagram, the Matchday 20 opponents are very evenly matched when it
comes to their ball circulation rate, which measures the number of passes played per minute of
possession. The areas in which differences can be identified are crosses and passing distances, where
the Nervion-based outfit hold the upper hand. However, the Catalan giants prevail in the statistics
relating to build-up play and passes in the attacking third.