Mourinho's Title Challenge Becomes Tougher! Barcelona Win Four Straight, Excelling in Attack and Defense as 19-Year-Old Talent Rapidly Evolves

In this round of La Liga matches, Barcelona faced former champions Valencia away from home. However, Valencia's results have declined in recent years, and the club has now fallen into the mid-to-lower part of the table. Against a strong Barcelona side, they were unable to put up much resistance despite playing at home, eventually suffering a 0-5 defeat. The result also gave Barcelona a fourth consecutive victory in the new season.

Although Barcelona would play in the Champions League a few days later, coach Flick did not make rotations in this La Liga match, continuing to start Yamal, Raphinha, and Gordon as the attacking trio. At the same time, Rodri, Fermin, and Pedri also entered the starting lineup, and Barcelona's squad selection had already shown strong confidence before the match.

The match proved that confidence was justified. Shortly after kickoff, Yamal received a teammate's cross inside the penalty area and used an outside-foot technique to chip the ball into the net, leaving the goalkeeper with no chance to react. The situation then completely shifted in Barcelona's favor, with Fermin scoring again to make it 2-0. In the second half, Raphinha quickly extended the lead, followed by goals from Pedri and Yamal, as Barcelona ultimately defeated their opponents 5-0.

After this match, Barcelona achieved four consecutive La Liga wins and became the only team with a perfect record. More remarkably, Barcelona scored 17 goals across four matches, averaging more than four goals per game, an extremely efficient attacking record. At the same time, the team conceded only two goals, demonstrating excellent defensive quality. In both attack and defense, Barcelona has been regarded as showing the best performance in La Liga. Now, if Mourinho's Real Madrid want to compete for the title, the pressure is clear.

Looking at the statistics from the first four matches, the gap between Real Madrid and Barcelona is noticeable. Although Real Madrid scored eight goals in home matches against Real Sociedad and Malaga, they looked less convincing away from home against Espanyol and Betis. In this round, Real Madrid even lost 0-1 to Betis and failed to break through their opponent's defense. After four matches, their total of 10 goals is far from efficient for such a star-studded attacking line.

The biggest change for Barcelona compared with last season has been Yamal's rapid growth. The 19-year-old talent scored once in each half against Valencia, and after four rounds he has already scored four goals, showing a significant improvement in efficiency compared with the past. He now frequently moves into the penalty area rather than relying only on wing breakthroughs, showing a development path similar to Messi's earlier years and gradually beginning to control matches, which has increased his goal output.

With Yamal's rapid progress, Barcelona's attacking power has become increasingly strong. In midfield, quality players such as Rodri and Pedri have further strengthened the team's competitiveness, making Barcelona's overall strength better than in the previous two seasons. It can be said that Mourinho appears to have encountered an unfortunate situation. He returned to Real Madrid but happened to face a Barcelona side that could become an ideal football team, making Real Madrid's title challenge this season significantly more difficult.