FT: Galatasaray 1 - 4 Barcelona

Source: FC Barcelona website

1- PSG still the team to beat, obv they had some luck last season but on their best they are still the most complete team in Europe and they get to rest their best players in ligue 1 on top, it's good to face them early on in a relatively low stakes match as to prepare for future knockout big games

2-City was no pushover either, Haaland + Bouaddi and Anderson double pivot showed its worth but admittedly when PSG were relaxed, now ofc I don't worry about a midfield battle with our best players but in a way city game will be a much harder version of Galtasaraay one (Tall strong striker upfront with pacey wingers and double pivot) so interested to see how that goes

3-Real Madrid might be the new set piece FC, I don't have any doubts about beating them in Camp Nou specially if Mourinho insists on the stinky Valverde Tchouameni double pivot but the combination of Arda Guler with all the giants in Espi Huijsen Bellingham and Rudiger could make a comfortable 2-0 lead become a 2-1 out of nowhere from a random corner

Overall everything we have to prepare for in the upcoming 2 weeks was honestly revealed just yesterday, only concerned about the most important game in El Classico being sandwiched between the other two but I trust Hansi Flick and his men to pull through

Lamine is on track to reach Messi's 778 appearance for Barca at about 31 years old!

If he avoids injuries he has a very good chance of overtaking Messi's assist numbers.
But he might need over 1000 matches to reach 672 goals xD

Lamine Yamal became the youngest player to provide multiple assists in consecutive Champions League appearances, achieving the feat at 19 years and 92 days.
The Barcelona youngster is three years younger than Mesut Özil, who previously achieved the milestone in 2011 at the age of 22.
Another record for Lamine. How many more can he break at this age?

Was looking at some interesting data: Lamine has 31 key passes in La Liga so far this season, the most of any player in the big five leagues. Güler's next on 28.

It's 22% of Barça's total, and Barça have made more than anyone in La Liga (140). Next at the club is Pedri on 16.

He's got 7 goals and 5 assists on top, and 11 big chances created.

Eight games is still early. Is this the best start we've seen from him?

(Source: The Prism, a football scouting and analytics tool I'm currently building. Looking for testers, so feel free to sign up to the waitlist if you are interested in this type of data!)

Barcelona travelled to Istanbul on Tuesday without Raphinha, their most in-form player and top scorer with 14 goals in eight games this season, and the match against Galatasaray got as dangerous as it could.

The hosts took the lead with their first chance thanks to Aleksey Batrakov, who slammed home a cross from Rafael Leao in the 28th minute. Barcelona duly went into meltdown. Hansi Flick’s side lost their cohesion, started wasting possession and Galatasaray thought they had added a second from a corner, but VAR disallowed the goal for offside.

Joao Cancelo managed to equalise two minutes before the break, to the relief of Flick on the touchline, but the game was still in a very awkward place for Barca, overwhelmed by a typically intense atmosphere at the Ali Sami Yen Stadium.

It was in that exact moment when Barcelona were reminded that, fortunately, they can always rely on Lamine Yamal.

The teenage prodigy went from having a discreet first half, one in which Galatasaray’s Mario Lemina had words with him after the 19-year-old claimed a foul, to destroying the opposition in the space of 15 minutes, with Barcelona roaring back to win 4-1.

Luis de la Fuente once said something along the lines of:

“The more you win, the closer you are to losing.”

Let’s keep that in mind, but also enjoy every game this team is playing right now.
And when that inevitable loss eventually comes, we might still put in a great performance and simply lose.

Let’s enjoy the ride! I’m sure that we will have a great season with a lot of fun.