EMMET MALONE on the challenge Chelsea face against a side now combining attacking flair with work-rate

IT’S A story that is about so much more than mere statistics, and yet with Josep “Pep” Guardiola’s Barcelona the numbers, like the football, have been fairly seductive this year.

Twelve points adrift of arch-rivals Real Madrid at the end of last season, the Catalan giants beat third-placed Seville 4-0 this week to restore their six-point advantage at the top of the table.

Their tallies of goals scored (92) and points amassed (81) are on course to be records for the La Liga. And in an age when every aspect of the game is measured and catalogued they have out-passed, out-tackled, pretty much out-everythinged their rivals over the past eight months.

They have been similarly impressive in the Champions League, with four or more goals scored in four of their 10 games in the competition proper. The 45 minutes during which they put four past Bayern Munich in the home leg of their quarter-final a few weeks back was probably the high point.

The scoreline didn’t tell half the story that night at the Nou Camp where Barca were sublime and the Germans – 12-1 victors over Sporting Lisbon in the previous round – were reduced to almost abject surrender.

Barcelona president Joan Laporta called that 45 minutes of football “the best first half in the history of Barca”, while Franz Beckenbauer, the visitors’ honorary president, called it the “worst half in Bayern’s history”.

Both may have been overstating things just a little but Laporta’s enthusiasm was certainly understandable. The team’s performance that night was just one in a long list that have vindicated his decision to appoint Guardiola as Frank Rijkaard’s successor a year ago after the team had lost its way.

At just 37, Guardiola’s managerial experience was limited to one season with the club’s B team. He had done well with what is effectively Barca’s youth outfit, leading them to the top of their regional section of the Spanish third division. But more central to the board opting to back Laporta’s hunch was Guardiola’s grounding at the club, where he came through the youth ranks before playing for 11 seasons, around half of them as captain, for the “Dream Team” assembled under Johan Cruyff. It has looked an inspired choice.

Guardiola, from Santpedor just north of Barcelona, grew up idolising Cruyff the player. Then, when the Dutchman returned to manage the team he saw in the youngster all the attributes he required for the defensive midfielder he wanted to anchor his team. With his tireless work, the simplicity of his game, the near perfection of his passing and dedication to the cause, Guardiola would, in turn, to inspire the current generation of home grown stars like Xavi and Andreas Iniesta.

In fact, the club’s youth academy, La Masia, has produced around half of the current squad – they won one game this year in which eight graduates started – and many are local players, supporters of the club, groomed from a very early age.

Rijkaard had led the side to two league titles and one Champions League during his first three years in charge before enduring two barren seasons.

“Motivation became a problem after winning the Champions League,” conceded his assistant, Eusebio, and, as he commanded the respect of key players and the devotion of the younger ones, Guardiola was in a position to provide it.

Ronaldinho and Deco were ushered towards Milan and Chelsea respectively but Samuel Eto’o could not be offloaded due to his wage demands. A net €44 million was spent on strengthening the squad but, more critically, the new boss, while insisting the club already possessed a “fantastic” collection of players, set about transforming the attitude of those already there.

Guardiola sought to inspire key players, with Thierry Henry, Yaya Toure and, eventually, Eto’o being persuaded they could be part of something great again but he also worked to restore the discipline that Rijkaard had lost.

Fines were introduced for staying out late and failing to come in early enough to eat breakfast with team-mates, while every minute of training missed this season has cost the guilty party some €6,000; even allowing for his inflated pay packet, such a system would most likely have left Ronaldinho owing his employers a tidy sum by the end of last season.

When the new season came around things didn’t start brilliantly, with Barcelona losing their first game and drawing their second but they have scarcely looked back since.

At the back the team has generally, though not always, looked significantly better than in recent seasons. Carles Puyol, Rafael Marquez and Gerard Pique have combined well for the most part and the team’s defending at set-pieces, in particular, has looked far more solid.

Still, they do have their moments, like the one in Lyon when Juninho curled the ball across the goal and into the top corner from a tight angle as Valdes looked on, seemingly bewildered.

Like Ronaldinho, Gianluca Zambrotta was allowed to leave for Milan and his replacement, Dani Alves, has lived up to all the hype he generated during his time at Seville, who let him head north for €29 million after next week’s opponents, Chelsea, refused to match the asking price.

Xavi is the key figure in the three-man midfield but Iniesta and Toure have both performed strongly this season. They have, however, been somewhat eclipsed by the showing of Eto’o, Henry and the still rising Argentinean star Lionel Messi.

Henry, like Eto’o, was viewed by many as being past his best when Guardiola took charge but his goal against Seville in midweek was number 16 in 28 games, a figure that would surely be higher if he could displace the Cameroonian (27 in 30) from the central striker’s role, or get more of a look in when it comes to set-pieces.

But Henry has accepted his lot, applied himself to running at defenders from the left and along the way has discovered the sort of form that persuaded Barca to pay €17.5 million from him a year after he had shone most brightly at Arsenal.

On the other side, Messi’s form has rarely been an issue, although injuries all too often have been and the club’s new management have worked very hard to keep the 21-year-old fit. The reward has been a string of devastating performances from a player widely regarded as just about the world’s best.

Perhaps the most remarkable statistic of all generated by the team is the three strikers commit about a third more fouls than Puyol, Marquez and Pique do at the back. Their ingenuity is cherished but under Guardiola it must be accompanied by rare levels of industry.

“Did you see how much running I did?” Henry asked journalists after a recent Champions League outing. “People don’t understand that about us. We don’t just play – we stop the opposition from playing. We fight for every ball and, when we lose it, work so hard at trying to win it straight back. Honestly, you can say all you like about technique and tactics, but strip it all away and what is football really about? Running.”

Guardiola himself sees the shift in emphasis as straightforward. “It’s simple,” he says, “I’m happy when we’re in the opposition’s half and not happy when we’re in our own.”

Somewhat surprisingly, Eto’o goes as far as to suggest: “I prefer pressuring the opposition to scoring goals.”

The shift towards defending from front to back has been recognised by Barca’s rivals for this year’s Champions League crown, with Manchester United boss Alex Ferguson observing: “There has maybe been a bit more concentration on defending than in previous times. That’s not a criticism of Frank Rijkaard, I just think Guardiola has brought in the awareness that defending is just as important as attacking.”

“I’m not sure they have improved a lot from when we played them last season, though,” adds the Scot, and Guus Hiddink will certainly be looking for the weaknesses successfully exploited by a small number of rivals ahead of Chelsea’s return to the Nou Camp for the opening instalment of the fourth knock-out stage encounter between the two clubs (the Londoners trail 2-1).

For instance, Alves has looked superb charging down the right and the Brazilian’s overlapping runs neatly complement Messi’s tendency to cut inside. With Ashley Cole suspended and no naturally left-sided defender to replace him, Hiddink must choose who to play at left back but if possession can be won and the ball moved forward quickly, there should be space to attack into, provided Florent Malouda can produce the sort of display he managed at Anfield last month or even at Wembley last week.

Eric Abidal should be fit to play at left back but there is no guarantee Guardiola will not leave Puyol there so as to partner Marquez and Pique at the heart of the defence. Former Manchester United player Pique adds height but the pair will still be seen as vulnerable, particularly to balls lofted in from wide positions.

When they surprised their neighbours back in February, Espanyol made a physical battle of the encounter and the performances of players of Michael Ballack, Michael Essien and, perhaps most of all, Didier Drogba, will be critical to Chelsea’s hopes of doing the same.

Catching their hosts on the counter-attack will be important too for the Barca midfielders are encouraged to provide additional options when forward movements run out of steam, with late runs into the box a regular source of goals. Here, Frank Lampard’s ability to exploit the space left behind will be of particular importance.

Barca, though, have won 26 of their 32 league games to date and after the home performances against Lyon and Bayern, Arrigo Sacchi was moved to compare Guardiola’s side favourably with his great Milan side of almost 20 years ago.

“This Barcelona team are playing touch football, but they also pressure their opponents, they can recover possession quickly, attack with speed on the counter, and they can handle every aspect of the game,” he said.

“I believe that they are technically superior to my Milan side because they are even more spectacular to watch, although physically, my team were stronger because we were tougher.

“The great thing is,” he continued, “their success at present was born from inside their own club, thanks to the brilliant idea of hiring Pep. Before, Barca also had a great coach in Rijkaard because they played extraordinarily back then, but now the superstars play for the team. The collective effort has been made a priority. This season, it appears every player has regained the hunger to become champions.”

Henry agrees but, cautions: “You can lose a couple of matches in the domestic league and there’s an opportunity to put things right. In the Champions League, one bad performance – or even bad 10 minutes – can put you out. We’ve won nothing yet.”