Valverde on the same path as Guardiola LaLiga - Barcelona Both coaches started very well at Barcelona

The triumphant season being enjoyed by Barcelona has managed to make them instantly forget about Neymar.

But it isn't just that. The numbers being registered by Ernesto Valverde in his first season as Barcelona coach has brought comparisons with Pep Guardiola's debut campaign on the bench.

Those are comparisons which, far from being over the top, are very revealing when you take a look at the data.

At this point of the season, having played the first 20 LaLiga games, Guardiola's side led the league in 2008/09 with 53 points, 63 goals scored and 14 against.

Valverde is also leading the standings with 54 points, 57 goals scored and just nine conceded.

In addition, the distance between Pep's men and the second placed Real Madrid was 12 points, while the current gap between the Blaugrana and Atletico Madrid is 11.

Valverde's Barcelona are also still undefeated in the league this season, which was not the case for Guardiola who was beaten by Numancia on his debut.

Guardiola did manage to put together nine consecutive victories, while Valverde has put together seven in succession this season, but we can't forget the 19 point gap that exists at present between them and Real Madrid, something which would have been unthinkable in Guardiola's maiden campaign.

At this stage of the season, Guardiola has used 21 players in LaLiga, while Valverde has called upon 22.

In Pep's time, the goals were less distributed around the squad as a total of 10 players had managed at least goal after 20 games, a number which increases to 13 under Valverde.

The attacking trident from the Guardiola era was made up of Thierry Henry (12 goals), Lionel Messi (14) and Samuel Eto'o (19) who had 45 between them at this point.

Neymar's departure and injury to Ousmane Dembele have ensured that the goals are much more spread around under Valverde with his top three scorers being Messi (19), Luis Suarez (15) and Paulinho (8) for a total of 42 goals.

Messi is also much more decisive in this side than he was in Guardiola's first season, where he played 17 of the first 20 games, while he has played them all under Valverde.

He had 14 goals under the current Manchester City boss, which has increased to 19 this season and although he has the same amount of doubles after 20 games, he has two hat-tricks this year, compared with none from a decade ago.

It isn't just goals he has shown improvements on either as he has marginally improved his assist count from eight to nine.

There are many similarities between both coaches' first season on the Camp Nou bench.

But Valverde has a very complicated mission if he wants to repeat Guardiola's historic treble of LaLiga, the Copa del Rey and Champions League.

There is still a chance that Barcelona could do it once again as they are alive and kicking in all three competitions, but it remains to be seen whether or not they can restock their trophy cabinet with them all.