Who Needs Julián Alvarez? Barcelona Cannot Stop Scoring Goals

Barcelona have scored lots of goals since Hansi Flick arrived in 2024, and despite missing out on a new striker in the summer, that has very much continued this season.

Signing Rodri was undoubtedly a coup, but the main story of Barcelona’s summer was their relentless pursuit of Julián Alvarez.

The Atlético Madrid striker was earmarked as the replacement for Robert Lewandowski, and he was very much up for taking on the challenge (to say the least).

However, Atlético were stern in their stance. Alvarez was going nowhere, and certainly not to a La Liga rival.

You would think that would have caused a problem for Barça, but frankly, despite missing out on their key forward target, they have been absolutely firing on all cylinders in front of goal.

Barcelona have scored five goals in four of their six games in all competitions this season, recording a total of 26 goals in total. They’ve scored 21 in five La Liga matches – at least seven more than any other team. In fact, they have scored more than any other team in Europe’s top five leagues.

A 5-0 win at Elche was followed by a more modest 2-0 success over Athletic Club. Since then, though, they have beaten Rayo Vallecano 5-2, Valencia 5-0, and Levante 4-2.

Barcelona’s average of 4.2 goals per game in the league is the most of any team across Europe’s top five leagues this season (ahead of Freiburg – 3.3), while they also hit five in their first UEFA Champions League match of the campaign against Feyenoord (5-1).

So, having missed out on Alvarez, just how have Barcelona scored so many goals?

The club did bring in Gabriel Jesus from Arsenal, but he felt more like a Ferran Torres replacement; a squad player rather than a starting striker, and so Flick has adapted in the early weeks of the 2026-27 campaign.

Raphinha did not play as a striker at any point last season, but has spent 90% of his time this season leading the line. And he has been doing it very well.

The former Leeds United man has broadly been flanked by Lamine Yamal and Anthony Gordon, and they have been an extremely productive trio so far.

Raphinha already has eight goals to his name this season, while Yamal has seven. Gordon is yet to find the net since his summer move from Newcastle United, but his four La Liga assists are the joint-most of anyone in Europe’s top five leagues (level with Roma’s Paulo Dybala).

Fermín López has chipped in with four goals himself, while new arrival Karim Adeyemi has three. Jesus got off the mark in the thrashing of Feyenoord last week.

It shouldn’t come as that much of a surprise, though. Barça are no strangers to scoring goals. They scored 95 in the league last season, the second most of anyone in Europe’s top five leagues after Bayern Munich (122).

It has been a theme since Flick took charge in the summer of 2024. Barcelona have scored a whopping 344 goals in 123 games on his watch, at an average of 2.8 per game.

Their potency isn’t simply just down to creating lots of chances, though. In fact, Real Madrid (104) have had more shots in La Liga this season than Barcelona (96).

But Flick’s side are especially ruthless in their finishing. Their shot conversion rate of 21.9% this season is the second-highest of any team in Europe’s top five leagues, behind only Bundesliga new boys Elversberg (26.7% – 8 goals from 30 shots).

That conversion rate is a by-product of the fact that they’re creating high-quality chances. Their 16.7 expected goals total in La Liga is the most by 3.7 (ahead of Madrid’s 13.0), while their 3.35 xG per game is the most across Europe’s top five leagues (ahead of Bayern’s 2.94).

Barça are averaging 0.19 xG per shot in La Liga this season, with no team averaging more across Europe’s top five leagues.

Seventeen of their La Liga goals have been assisted, too, at least seven more than any other team. Of course, you do have to bear in mind that something as minor as a cross taking a slight deflection can mean an assist isn’t officially counted, but as many as 17 of their 21 goals being assisted does suggest Barcelona’s goals are generally quite clean and deliberate, and less reliant on a kind bounce of the ball or ricochet.

With such a fluid front three, it’s no surprise they try to get the ball in behind defences often. Barcelona have attempted 37 through balls in La Liga this season (12 successful); that’s more than double every other team apart from Racing Santander (19). A through ball is any pass through the opposition’s defensive line, usually leading to a one-on-one situation with the goalkeeper.

It perhaps isn’t too surprising that aside from two penalties, none of their goals have come from set-pieces. Their total of 19 open-play goals is at least eight more than any La Liga rival.

Yamal is particularly shining, fresh off winning the World Cup this summer. He’s already created 18 chances from open play, more than any other player in Europe’s top five leagues, and more than twice as many as any of his teammates.

He is yet to record his first assist, though, which is quite remarkable when you consider how many goals Barcelona have scored.

Raphinha has been in inspired form in his new role as a centre-forward. In six games this season, he’s scored eight goals from just 18 shots, at a shot conversion rate of 44.4%. That does include a penalty, but even excluding that, it’s still 41.2%.

Players like Gordon and Dani Olmo are yet to get off the mark this season, so if anything, there seems to be the potential for even more goals for Barcelona, especially if Yamal’s teammates start putting away the chances he’s creating.

Of course, this is a very small sample size, but at their current scoring rate, Barça are on course to score 160 goals in La Liga this season.

Fair enough, that would be a big ask. The record for most goals in a La Liga season belongs to Real Madrid, who managed 121 in 2011-12, but every time the La Liga champions play, they look like scoring a hatful.

Across all competitions last season, Barcelona scored 144 goals in 57 games. If they play the same number of matches this season, they would be on course to hit 247. We probably wouldn’t put any money on it, but could you imagine that?

Barcelona host Racing Santander on Wednesday, before a trip to Sevilla at the weekend ahead of the international break. Could they even reach 30 La Liga goals before the first international break of the season?

We will probably hear all about renewed efforts from the Catalans to nab Alvarez in January, but as things stand, Barcelona are proving that they are absolutely fine with what they have already.

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