Stats and Facts on the Barcelona-Betis game

FC Barcelona take on Real Betis at the Camp Nou in their first game of the 2016/2017 La Liga season as they look to defend their crown whilst getting their name engraved on the cup for the 25th time in their history.

Both FC Barcelona and Real Betis have a rich history in Spanish football and have met on numerous occasions as they’ve both existed for more than 100 years. Here are some statistics and facts about the game set to hold at the Camp Nou on Saturday evening.

1. FC Barcelona have played against Real Betis on 122 occasions in the past with an overall record of 71 wins, 21 draws and 28 defeats with the last one in the league coming in 2008 when the Catalan giants lost 3-2 at the Benito Villamarin (then Estadio Manuel Luiz de Lopera). They lost in the 3-1 in the Copa del Rey three years later. In these 122 games, Barça have scored a total of 266 goals whilst conceding 134 from their opponent.

2. 60 out of the 122 games Barça have played against Real Betis have been at the Camp Nou and they have an amazing record. The Catalans have won 46 out of the 60 games, drawing seven times and losing seven times. They scored 165 goals during these games and conceded 54 whilst keeping 23 clean sheets.

3. Barcelona have won all of their last 7 home games against Real Betis in all competitions, scoring a total of 26 goals and conceding 7 in the process. They also kept three cleen sheets. The last 7 results against Real Betis at the Camp Nou: 4-0; 3-1; 4-2; 4-2; 5-0; 3-2; 3-0 (from the most recent result). The last time Barça failed to win against Betis at the Camp Nou was in 2007 in a 1-1 draw.

4. Lionel Messi is the FC Barcelona player to have scored the highest number of goals against Real Betis in the history of this fixture. The Argentina has faced the Andalusian club 15 times and netted 14 goals in the process, two more than his closest competitor Sandor Kocsis with 12 and three ahead of Samuel Eto’o. Messi adds four assists to his name against Betis and will wear the captain armband for the game on Saturday night.

5. Apart from Lionel Messi who has 14 goals, Luis Suarez is the player with most goals against the club amongst players of the current Barcelona squad with three strikes to his name. Neymar, Ivan Rakitic and Sergio Busquets come next with one goal each.

6. Of players in FC Barcelona current squad, club captain Andres Iniesta has the most number of assists against Real Betis setting up 8 goals, unfortunately, the Spaniard won’t have the chance to add to his number as he’s out for the game. Lionel Messi is second on the list with 4 assists while Neymar comes next with two. Sergio Busquets has one to his name.

7. Current FC Barcelona coach Luis Enrique played against Real Betis on numerous occasions during his time as a player and he netted 6 goals against them which puts him as the 4th top Barça goalscorer against the Seville club.

8. Barcelona won all of their opening games in La Liga in the previous seven seasons, a clean sweep, and they kept a cleen sheet in six of those.

Most of the stats via – @BarcaStat

The game kicks off at 6:15pm CET – Read the Match Preview.