Barça maintains its problems in defense: 2 goals against in 2 matches

The defensive problems for FC Barcelona seem to have no end. And, just like last season, the club continues to see how any approach to the goal ends up being very dangerous.

In that sense, in the first match of LaLiga EA Sports 2025/26 against RCD Mallorca, the azulgrana team was able to keep a clean sheet, but in the second match against Levante UD they failed to do the same and conceded 2 goals, in a match they came back from and won 2-3.

Levante highlights the shortcomings in Barça's defensive zone

It is important to mention that the start of the league season for the azulgrana team in the 2024/25 season also left worrying signs in the defensive section. In the first two matches, the azulgrana team conceded 2 goals, split between 2 consecutive victories: 1-2 against Valencia and 2-1 against Athletic Club.

Now, in the new season, Levante once again exposes these shortcomings, bringing the issue up again. In principle, Barça has already scored several goals (6 in 2 matches), but struggles when it comes to preventing the opponent's attacks.

‎In the match against the 'granotas', despite the fact that they only had 18% of the ball possession, they managed to shoot at Joan García's goal on 5 occasions, causing him to finish the match with 3 saves, while 2 of the occasions ended in a goal.

‎Likewise, although the 'levantinista' team fell into the trap of the advanced defense on 6 occasions, they also managed to avoid the high defensive line at different times.

Levante put Barça in trouble, who despite attacking very well, suffers in defense. Now even more after the departure of Íñigo Martínez, who formed the center-back duo with Pau Cubarsí and was the one who best advanced the line.

It should be noted that in preseason it was also seen that this situation had not been resolved, since in the 3 matches on Asian soil Barça allowed 4 goals.

‎Defensive solidity, the task to improve for Flick's Barça

Considering the above, Hansi Flick has a clear priority for the 2025/26 season: to consolidate good defensive performances during the course of the season, leaving aside the worrying cracks in his rear guard, for now made up of Cubarsí and Ronald Araujo as center-backs and Eric García and Alejandro Balde on the flanks as starters.

It is worth remembering that the Barcelona team comes from closing LaLiga 2024/25 with 39 goals conceded in 38 matches, a figure that already showed the need for tactical adjustments.

And not only that, in the UEFA Champions League, Barça conceded 24 goals in just 14 matches, while in the Copa del Rey there were 7 goals in 6 matches. The Spanish Super Cup was also not exempt from scares, with 2 goals against. In total, the Catalan team saw its goal breached on 72 occasions throughout the season.