Yet another clean sheet!

It's always nice to complete a game without conceding a goal, but this season Barça are doing it with the kind of regularity that has very rarely been  witnessed at this level before. And on Saturday against Elche it happened once again.

Chasing records

That makes an astonishing 20 clean sheets in 27 league games. That is an all-time record at this stage of a Liga season.

In Europe's 'big five' leagues, the best defensive record this century belongs to the extraordinary Chelsea squad of 2004/05, who kept 25 clean sheets and only let in 15 goals. Barça have just conceded nine goals in 2022/23, so are on course to topple both those records.

Rotation at the back, same outcome

Saturday's game was also notable for being the 150th clean sheet for Ter Stegen at Barça, but although the German goalkeeper has been a constant this season, the players directly in front of him have varied considerably. But it doesn't matter who Xavi picks for the defence, the results are always equally brilliant. 

Again Elche, Eric García was moved from centre back to midfield. Alejandro Balde didn't play, Andreas Christensen was injured, and further up the field the likes of Sergio Busquets, Frenkie de Jong and Raphinha were also absent. But no matter what forced or experimental changes are made to this team, the extraordinarily solid defensive record continues to hold.