This article is part of Football FanCast’s In Numbers series, which takes a statistical look at performances, season-long form and reported transfer targets…
Last Saturday was a big success for the Catalan giants.
Ernesto Valverde’s troops took a trip to the Basque land and faced Eibar at the Ipurua stadium, running out 3-0 winners on the night.
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Many players managed to impress during the game and even though the spotlight is bound to be on the illustrious front three of Luis Suarez, Antoine Griezmann and Lionel Messi, who bagged a goal each, other silent heroes deserve equal praise as well.
One of those said heroes was Clement Lenglet, the 24-year-old defender who was marshalling their backline with his compatriot, Samuel Umtiti.
And even though Lenglet is one of those players who rarely get the plaudits of the pundits or the coaches, it seems that the Barcelona fandom are starting to recognise his contributions.
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He was one of the best performers on the pitch and as a result, managed to tally one of his personal best displays, if not the very best display, while donning the Blaugrana shirt.
According to Whoscored, he was the third-best ranked player on the day, just behind Messi and Griezmann, as he recorded one tackle, one interception and five clearances to his name. He also won five aerial duels as Eibar barraged the box with crosses.
But what was even more impressive, however, was his composure on the ball and his ability to participate and orchestrate from the back.
Lenglet ended the game with 83 touches under his belt, third-best in the team, and a team-highest 95.9% passing accuracy from 73 passes.
More importantly, he managed to deploy two key passes and even netted an assist to his name, setting up Barcelona’s first goal with a long ball into the path of Griezmann on the left side of the pitch.
By all accounts, this was quite a performance, as Lenglet took up the role of both defender and creator.
Even though Gerard Pique was absent from the game, Lenglet was a true leader from the back and dropped a real masterclass performance in the process.
Let’s see if he can continue the trend in the future.