Okay folks, last Wednesday, I really wanted to dig deep into that Barcelona vs Valladolid matchup everyone was talking about. Figured comparing their stats head-to-head might show something interesting, not just who won or lost.
Getting Started Wasn’t Fancy
Right. So I fired up my laptop, opened my trusty spreadsheet program. Didn’t need anything complicated for starters. I made two big, empty boxes side-by-side – one labeled Barcelona, one Real Valladolid. Simple.
First thing I grabbed? The obvious stuff:
- Shots on target
- Shots off target
- Who had more possession (the ball)
- Corners won
- Yellow cards (arguments!)
- Passes
Pretty basic, right? Felt like putting together pieces of a puzzle. I started trawling through some sites I usually check for match data. Ended up with like 10 tabs open, it was messy as hell for a minute.
The Headache Part
Here’s where it got a bit sticky. Found the game stats easily enough. But digging up their past meetings? Head-to-head stuff? Oof. Took some real clicking around different places. Some sites only showed the last 2 games, others showed way back, but didn’t have all the detailed stats I was after now. Like, where’s the foul count for the game before last? Had to hop between sites.
Then there was the “home and away” confusion. Was this stat for when Barça played at Valladolid, or in Barcelona? Gotta be careful with that. Almost put the wrong numbers in the wrong box a couple times. Had to double-check dates and places constantly, scratching my head.
Slapping It All Together
Finally got a decent chunk of info, maybe the last 5 times they played each other. Copied those numbers over into my spreadsheet boxes, row by row.
- Saw instantly that Barça usually had way more possession, like 70% kinda thing. No surprise there, they love that ball.
- Shots? Again, Barcelona fired off more, but Valladolid blocked a ton.
- Corners? Almost always heavily in Barça’s favor. They push hard.
- Yellow cards? This was interesting. Valladolid picked up yellows faster on average, especially when playing away at Camp Nou. Feels like they work harder to stop Barça, maybe get frustrated?
- Passes completed? Barça running circles with passing, Valladolid much less. Shows how they play differently.
Made some simple little averages at the bottom of each column in the spreadsheet. Just =AVERAGE( range ), nothing clever. Helps see the usual pattern.
What Stuck With Me
Doing this, it really hit me just how much Barça controls the game against them, basically every single time they meet. Possession, shots, corners, passes… it’s all heavily tilted towards Barcelona.
But! It also showed that Valladolid isn’t just rolling over. They block a lot, they foul, they fight. That number of yellow cards tells you about the pressure they’re under trying to stop them. Doesn’t always work, but they try.
Cleaned up my messy spreadsheet, saved it as “Barca_Valladolid_Comparison”. Kinda proud of actually sticking it out and putting the numbers side-by-side myself. Makes talking about the game next time feel a bit more real, you know? Instead of just guessing.
