Today we bring you an interesting statistic discovered by Spanish newspaper Marca. Whilst Barcelona have quite rightly been known to score the bulk of their goals from close range after a dazzling passing move, it seems the manner in which goals are scored has changed somewhat since new manager Tito Vilanova has come to town.
According to Marca, since his takeover, the amount of goals scored by Barcelona outside the penalty area has doubled and now makes up an improved 12.5% of all total goals scored as opposed to just 7.1% that were converted under former boss Pep Guardiola.
In total El Barca have racked up 12 goals from long-range this season, most notable of which was the stunning equalising free-kick from usual suspect Lionel Messi in their 2-2 El Clasico draw with Real Madrid.
Messi’s men now hold a quite astonishing sixteen point lead over rivals Madrid in the Primera Division this season and perhaps their deadly accuracy from outside the box under new boss Tito Vilanova has been the main reason why they’re able to hold on to such an unattainable lead at the top of the table.