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Barcelona broke their own Champions League passing record against Borussia Monchengladbach

Barcelona celebrate during their 4-0 win over Borussia Monchengladbach

Barcelona broke their own Champions League passing record in their 4-0 thrashing of Borussia Monchengladbach on Tuesday.

Luis Enrique's men attempted a staggering total of 991 passes at the Nou Camp, the most in the competition since Opta started taking records in the 2003/04 season.

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It amounted to 73 per cent share of possession, and it beat their previous record of 971 passes which they set in a 2-0 win over Russian side Rubin Kazan in December 2010.

Of the 991 passes attempted, Barcelona completed 905 at a success rate of 91.3 per cent.

Remarkably, Barcelona occupy each of the top five spots for most passes attempted in a Champions League game. They recorded 960 against Bayer Leverkusen in March 2012, and they racked up 957 and 955 in two ties with Celtic in the following season.

Most passes attempted in a Champions League game

Team Opponent Date Passes
Barcelona Borussia Monchengladbach 6/12/2016 991
Barcelona Rubin Kazan 7/12/2010 971
Barcelona Bayer Leverkusen 7/3/2012 960
Barcelona Celtic 23/10/2012 957
Barcelona Celtic 7/11/2012 955

Tuesday night's victory featured a goal from Lionel Messi and a hat-trick from Arda Turan, but Barcelona's top passer was Javier Mascherano. The former Liverpool man attempted 137 over the course of the 90 minutes, finding a team-mate with 126.

Midfielder Andre Gomes was second, attempting 126 passes at an incredible 98.4 per cent success rate, and he was followed by Andres Iniesta, Samuel Umtiti and Denis Suarez.

Also See:

Barcelona's top passers vs Borussia Monchengladbach

Player Passes Passes completed Passing accuracy
Javier Mascherano 137 126 92.0%
Andre Gomes 126 124 98.4%
Andres Iniesta 118 109 92.4%
Samuel Umtiti 117 113 96.6%
Denis Suarez 101 87 86.1%

But while Barcelona's passing totals were unprecedented against Borussia Monchengladbach, they are not the side to have attempted the most passes in this year's Champions League.

Barcelona's passmap against Gladbach shows their 991 attempted passes
Image: Barcelona's passmap against Monchengladbach shows their 991 attempted passes

That crown goes to Carlo Ancelotti's Bayern Munich, who completed 4635 passes compared to Barcelona's 4246 during the group stage.

Paris Saint-Germain, Borussia Dortmund and Juventus made up the rest of the top five, with Arsenal the top-ranked English team with 3536 attempted passes.

Most passes - Champions League 2016/17

Rank Team Passes
1st Bayern Munich 4635
2nd Barcelona 4246
3rd Paris St Germain 3889
4th Borussia Dortmund 3729
5th Juventus 3655
6th Arsenal 3536
7th Tottenham 3509
- - -
13th Man City 3150
- - -
28th Leicester 2285

Tottenham were next on 3509 passes, while Pep Guardiola's Manchester City - who had to face Barcelona twice - ranked 13th having only attempted 3150.

Leicester, meanwhile, completed just 2285 passes - the fifth fewest of the 32 sides to feature in the group stage.

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