Analyzing Barcelona’s Performance: The Impact of Oriol Romeu on Results

After the recent 1-1 draw against Rayo Vallecano, a Barcelona fan on Reddit questioned the team’s performance with Oriol Romeu on the field, suggesting that the stats might indicate a concerning trend. Let’s delve into the numbers to see if there’s validity to these claims.

Since his arrival, Romeu has started in 9 La Liga games and 3 Champions League matches, with 5 appearances as a substitute and one missed game (the 0-1 win against Real Sociedad).

Surprisingly, Barcelona has not lost a single La Liga game when Oriol Romeu was in the starting XI. Notably, in the team’s only league loss (the latest El Clasico), Romeu came on as a substitute 18 minutes before full-time.

In the Champions League, Barca won two and lost one game with Romeu in the starting lineup.

However, this doesn’t absolve Romeu from criticism. He has completed only one full game (the 2-1 win against Shakhtar), and the frequent substitutions by Xavi suggest a certain pattern.

Moreover, a closer look at some of Barcelona’s victories reveals that these wins often occurred after Romeu left the pitch, as seen in the 2-0 against Cadiz, the 3-4 against Villarreal, and the 1-2 against Osasuna, among others.