Stats: How Hansi Flick has established new era of discipline at Barcelona | OneFootball

When Hansi Flick took the helm at Barcelona, one of the first matters he addressed was the team’s discipline on the pitch.

He made it clear that constant arguments with referees will not be tolerated. Flick knew that from last season, on-field protests and heated exchanges from both players and the bench were a problem.

This lack of control frequently led to pointless bookings and suspensions, something the German tactician desired to put an end to without delay.

Things have changed this season

The players understood his commands and answered with an excessive level of discipline.

Now, with the season nearing its end, Barcelona can boast a stunning achievement: not a single player has been suspended because of an accumulation of yellow cards in any competition.

So far, only five players have missed games due to disciplinary actions, and each was due to a red card resulting from in-game incidents, not complaints or dissent toward match officials.

Hansi Flick has set a new standard of discipline at Barcelona. (Photo by Judit Cartiel/Getty Images)

Interestingly, without a player banned due to repetitive cautions, the manager has had the luxury of working with his best options in almost every match..

A new standard of discipline

A quick look at the numbers explains that Barcelona have accumulated the fewest total cards in La Liga—50 yellow cards, the same as Real Madrid, although Madrid have picked up one more red card than the Catalans.

In the Champions League, Barcelona have averaged just one yellow card per match – 12 in 12 matches.

Remarkably, Barcelona have not managed such a clean disciplinary record in Europe since the 2004/05 season under Frank Rijkaard, when they collected only seven bookings in eight matches.

As of today, only Gavi and Jules Kounde are the only players at risk of suspension in La Liga.

In the Champions League, Inigo Martinez was close to a ban, but that concern has now disappeared as yellow cards are cleared ahead of the semi-finals.