How FC Barcelona have started previous years

Christmas hangovers have never been a a problem at FC Barcelona, for since 2010 they have won nine of their opening games to the year, drawn four and lost just two. In fact, since 2018 they have not lost at all and since 2021 it's been straight wins.

Eleven of these games were in the league, and the four have been in the Copa del Rey, as will be this year's opener away to Barbastro, a Saturday 7pm CET kick-off.

The most recent case was 2024's game under Xavi Hernández away to Las Palmas. That was a league game and Barça won it 2-1 thanks to goals from Ferran Torres and Ilkay Gündogan.

First scorers

Torres thus added his name to the list of players who have scored the first blaugrana goals of a calendar year. The only players to have done it more than once in recent years are Leo Messi and Pedro Rodríguez. The GOAT actually did it three times (2016, 2017 and 2019) and the Canary Islander twice in 2010 and 2011.

Other recent years have started with goals from Cesc Fàbregas (2012), Xavi Hernández ( 2013), Alexis Sánchez (2014), Neymar (2015), Luis Suárez (2020), Frenkie De Jong (2021), Luuk de Jong (2022) and Araujo (2023). The curious exception was 2018, when Barça started the year with an own goal from Jose Arnaiz of Celta Vigo in a Copa del Rey encounter.

So who is going to be Barça's first goalscorer of 2025?