BARÇA HAMSTRUNG BY INTERNATIONALS AND FIXTURE LIST - Tata waves goodbye to record hopes

Posted Monday, October 21, 2013 by Marca.com

Having earned the chance to equal Real Madrid's record for the best ever start to a league season, Tata Martino's side stumbled at the last hurdle. Targeting the nine wins on the bounce chalked up by Miguel Muñoz's side in 1968-69, Barça fell one short, only matching the eight straight victories registered by Leo Beenhakker's 'Los Blancos' in 1987-88.

Tata Martino's side will take some consolation from having broken a club record, with Barcelona never having previously won more than its first six league games of the campaign – a feat achieved by six different coaches.

The first to do so was James Bellamy in 1929-30. Some sixty years passed until it happened again, when Johan Cruyff managed the trick with his Dream Team in 1990-91. More recently, Louis Van Gaal (1997-98), Pep Guardiola (2009-10) and Tito Vilanova (2012-13) have all managed to knock 'La Liga' for six at the beginning of the season.

Two key factors undermined Barcelona's preparations for the clash in Osasuna. The first was the so-called 'FIFA Virus', with swathes of the 'Azulgranas' camp off on international duty over the last week, meaning the squad only had two full training sessions together before the match. The other was the upcoming fixture list, as Barça has one eye on the imminent meetings with Milan in the Champions League and a resurgent Real Madrid in the league, where the gap between the pair is now down to three points.