This Alarming Key Stat Is Difference Between FC Barcelona's 4-1 ...

The say the stats don't lie, and one that has been highlighted by Mundo Deportivo could be the key ... [+] difference between FC Barcelona's 4-1 win over Bayern Munich on Wednesday and a chastening 8-2 defeat to the same opposition in 2020.

They say the stats don't lie, and one that has been highlighted by Mundo Deportivo could be the key difference between FC Barcelona's 4-1 win over Bayern Munich on Wednesday and a chastening 8-2 defeat to the same opposition in 2020.

Because of that latter pummelling in a one-and-out Lisbon quarterfinal, often referred to as Barca's darkest night in Europe - plus other group stage defeats that have followed since across the rest of the decade thus far - the Bavarians were described as the Blaugrana's "ogre" and bogeyman on the continent.

At the Montjuic Stadium this week, however, a Raphinha hat trick and Robert Lewandowski strike allowed Culers to dream about what could be this season amid additional key performances from the likes of Lamine Yamal, Pedri, Fermin Lopez and Marc Casado.

Hansi Flick was of course in charge of Barca for their landmark win and on the other side of the ball when his eventual treble-winning Bayern outfit humbled Quique Setien's men and triggered Setien's firing by then-president Josep Bartomeu.

Yet although there are so many variables in a high-stakes game of elite European football, it could be that the amount of running Barca did in comparison to that 8-2 demolition job which proved key this time round.

Barca's players stomped a collective 126.55 kilometers - almost six more than Bayern's 120.58 kms - compared to just 98 kilometers in the meeting between the two behemoths in 2020.

This figure can also be compared to the 118.59 kilometers and 117.8 kilometers Barca produced in group stage defeats to the all-time Bundesliga champions two seasons ago, when they failed to advance to the knockout phase under Xavi Hernandez.

With El Clasico on the horizon this weekend, Barca's notable improved pressing game and physical conditioning could also play a pivotal role against a Real Madrid outfit which its manager Carlo Ancelotti has repeatedly said lacks intensity as of late.

In its own Champions League encounter with Bayern's domestic foes Borussia Dortmund, a slouching Madrid went 2-0 down at the Bernabeu before coming back to win 5-2.

In the same ground on Saturday night, however, Barca might not be so forgiving if it is allowed to run riot and rack up such an advantage in the first half.