6/8 long balls: 22-year-old Barcelona midfield star puts on midfield masterclass against Alavés | OneFootball

FC Barcelona may not be La Liga leaders as things stand but in terms of the football that has been on display, they have arguably been the best team in Spain so far this season. The Catalan club is still well and truly in the title race.

Yesterday’s victory over Alaves was a crucial step in the right direction for Hansi Flick’s men. It was not a comfortable game for Barcelona with their opponents sitting in a low-block and the team struggled to break it down at will.

However, with the help of a few changes in the second half, Barcelona managed to secure a slender 1-0 win over Alaves thanks to Robert Lewandowski who made a very smart run and came up with a good finish.

It was a very important win for Barcelona considering Real Madrid lost to Espanyol the previous day and it was made possible by Pedri, who pulled all the strings from midfield, especially in the second half.

As per stats from Sofascore, Pedri played the entire game, having an xG and xA of 0.08. He recorded 101 touches on the ball, completing 70 out of 82 attempted passes with an impressive accuracy of 85%. This also included 2 key passes.

Pedri also completed an impressive six out of 8 attempted long balls and also had a solitary shot on target. The Spanish midfield maestro completed all of his three attempted dribbles, including an impressive run through the Alavés midfield.

Defensively, the 22-year-old Barcelona Golden Boy was as impressive as he has been all season. Pedri won 10 out of 10 attempted ground duels and even managed to win his solitary aerial duel. He was fouled six times and also successfully completed a tackle.

It was the kind of performance that further went on to cement his status as the best midfielder in the world at the moment. Pedri is playing at a different level compared to his peers and Barcelona will hope that this can continue for a long time to come.