Stat of the day | 43: games without defeat

The league title is the most difficult title to win it is said. The league is the competition in which the day to day work is rewarded and the most consistent team is the winner. Barça have won 26 league titles, eight of the last 11 championships and in the 2017/18 season the blaugranes were consistency personified as they put together a run of 36 games without defeat. To that run we have to add the seven final games of the previous season to give a total of 43 games without defeat, a new record in the competition, surpassing Real Sociedad's record of 38 games from 1980. 

Luis Enrique to Ernesto Valverde

The unbeaten run started at the back end of the 2016/17 season. Barça, then coached by Luis Enrique, ended the campaign with an excellent run of seven successive victories, the first of which came in April of 2017 against Real Sociedad in Camp Nou. Two goals from Messi and a strike from Paco Alcácer set them on their way to their historic achievement. 

Luis Enrique departed and Ernesto Valverde took over at Barça for the 2017/18 season. The new coach guided the team to an almost perfect season, coming so close to achieving something that has never been done in the league's history: an unbeaten season. 

An almost perfect season

After a 2-0 win against Betis on the opening weekend of the season, Barça continued to extend their run as they consolidated their position as league leaders. Valverde's team beat 18 of the other 19 teams in the Spanish First Division that they faced during the season. Only Celta with two draws managed to avoid defeat in a season in which Andrés Iniesta claimed his final league title, the 25th in the Club's history. 

Barça were desperately close to completing an unbeaten campaign after 36 matches with 27 wins and nine draws. However, on 13 May 2018, with Barça already crowned league champions, the run came to an end with a 5-4 defeat away at Levante. 43 games unbeaten between April 2017 and May 2018, a record that still stands today in La Liga. 

The run in stats

-Games: 43
-Wins: 34
-Draws: 9
-Goals for: 122
-Goals against: 33
-Clean sheets: 19
-Biggest win: Barça-Osasuna 7-1 
-First goal: Messi (Barça v Real Sociedad, 15 April 2017, 3-2).
-Final goal: Dembélé (Barça v Villarreal, 9 May 2018, 5-1).