Valdés breaks Miguel Reina’s record

In Prague, the goalkeeper has broken the club record for going unbeaten that dated back to the 1972/73 season, 824 minutes. Pep Guardiola, Leo Messi and Alexis Sánchez were also protagonists tonight.

Víctor Valdés is now the FC Barcelona goalkeeper who has gone the most games without conceding a goal. Following nine clean sheets, he has now gone unbeaten for 877 minutes, more than the 824 minutes established by Miguel Reina in the 1972/73 season. As the game ended 4-0, Valdés can still extend his incredible record. 

Monumental save 

He had to work to earn that record though. In the 16th minute Viktoria’s Petrzela was through on goal and Valdés came out better in a one-on-one situation. That save could have changed the course of the match, for shortly after Cisovsky was sent off for a penalty offence. 

Not since Pablo Hernández scored against him at Mestalla in the 23rd minute of the Valencia v Barça match has Valdés been beaten, and he has since kept clean sheets against all of Atlético Madrid, Sporting, Racing, Sevilla, Granada and Mallorca in the League and BATE and Viktoria (twice) in the Champions League. 

Guardiola and Messi make 200, and Alexis back 

Other names involved in the win in Prague were Pep Guardiola, Leo Messi and Alexis Sánchez. The coach was in charge for his 200th match, where he was able to enjoy the 144th win and 500th goal. The Argentinian scored goals 200, 201 and 202 of his Barça career in his second consecutive hat-trick. And the Chilean was back in action after an absence of a month and a half through injury.

Josep Guardiola gets to 200 games

Tonight the FC Barcelona manager has been on the bench for the 200th time since arriving at the club. He has won 72% of the games and seen his players score 500 goals.

Josep Guardiola will manage the team for the 200th time in Prague tonight, only the fifth time a Barça manager has reached that figure. But none have such an extraordinary win rate as he does – in fact, his statistics are quite simply stunning, as we show here: 


► 72% wins: Of the last 200 matches, Barça have won 143, drawn 39 and only lost 17. That 72% is somewhat better than the achievement of the second man in the list, Helenio Herrera, who managed a 70.6% win rate in 143 games. Next comes Ferdinand Daucik (60.7% wins in 150 games), Frank Rijkaard (58.6% wins in 273 games) and Johan Cruyff (58.1% wins in 430 games). 


► Only 17 losses: Of these 200 games, Guardiola and his players have only lost 17, two of which came at the end of the 2008/09 season when the league title was already in the bag. This season, the team has not lost any of its 17 official matches. 


► 500 goals for: There has been plenty of action in these games. The team has almost scored half a thousand goals, 500 to be precise. That’s an average of 2.50 goals a game. Leo Messi, with 160, is the highest goalscorer under Guardiola. 


► Nearly 100 goals in Europe: Of these, about a fifth have been in European matches. Barça have scored 99 goals in 44 Champions League matches, the most productive season being 2008/09 (36 goals in 15 matches). 


► 143 goals against: The Barça defence has also been fantastic, leaking just 143 goals (0.71 per game), and in the Liga (84 goals conceded), this has been enough to ensure Víctor Valdés won three consecutive Zamora Trophies. 


► 306 points in Liga: When it comes to points won in the league, Barça are clearly record breakers under Guardiola. In 124 matches, the side has collected 306 points. Guardiola finished his first three seasons at the club with 87, 99 and 96 points respectively, which was always enough to win the title. This season, they already have 24 points. 


► 12 titles out of 15: The 200 games have involved Guardiola’s side winning 12 titles out of the 15 that were at stake. These were 2 Ligas, 3 Spanish Supercups, 2 Champions Leagues, 2 European Supercups, one Clubs World Cup and one Copa del Rey” - Barca have won three ligas.




TERBAIKK LA GUARDIOLA....