Catalan giants have made red hot start to season but now head into defining week against Champions League holders before taking on arch-rivals at Camp Nou

Show caption: Barcelona coach Hansi Flick, right, has overseen a strong st…

Barcelona have scored 48 goals so far this season at an average of more than four per game, with 39 of them in La Liga – that’s 16 more than Real Madrid, the next highest scorers.

The Catalans have won all nine of their league games, a club and a league record achieved only once before – by a great Real Madrid side in 1968/69. Barcelona can go clear with a win in their next game – against Madrid in Sunday’s El Clasico.

Even by their own high standards, it has been an astonishing start to the season.

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But Hansi Flick’s side now face their toughest week. As well as playing Madrid, they face back-to-back European champions Paris Saint-Germain away on Tuesday. PSG are managed by Luis Enrique, the last man to lead Barcelona to the Champions League title, back in 2015.

Barca’s latest superb performance came in Saturday’s 5-2 win against a Real Betis team that was previously unbeaten at home and had hosted a first Champions League game in midweek.

Yamal hits top form

It was a superb contest with superb goals, the best being the opener from Lamine Yamal after 10 minutes. Among the favourites to win the Ballon d’Or, the forward is arguably the best player in the world right now.

The 19-year-old has scored nine goals and boasts nine assists in his first 11 games. Is there a danger that he’s playing too much - he also played in all four of Spain’s Nations League matches during the international break - or is he a machine who cannot play too much?

Last week, statistics showed that he spent 45 per cent of the match walking and 32 per cent jogging. The view from the club is that he knows how to pace himself and manage himself during matches and that he’s running significantly less than other players. A certain Lionel Messi had similar traits.

It helps that Yamal is surrounded by brilliance – and that’s not only his four-year-old half-brother Kenye, who brings smiles to the other players with his enthusiasm and mispronunciation of their names, including Ani Olmo (Dani Olmo), Pedli (Pedri) or Elemanovski (Lewandowski), the Polish striker he still thinks plays with his brother.

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Barca share goals around

Lewandowski was the main striker during his four seasons at the club, but he’s barely been missed having moved to Chicago in the summer just before his 38th birthday.

Barca had five different goalscorers at Betis. Rodri has slotted in from Manchester City, looking just as imperious as a man who is captain of world champions Spain should. He’s brought experience, and similar can be said of the versatile Gabriel Jesus, 29, who only cost €10 million and has already scored four goals.

The club benefits from being a destination where players want to move. Little wonder Marcus Rashford wanted to stay after his loan spell last season, yet Barcelona surprised football by going for Anthony Gordon from Newcastle United instead.

New signings step up

Gordon has been a success so far. The Liverpudlian, 25, has endeared himself to fans with good performances and speaking well in Spanish and even some Catalan. His enthusiasm, joy and an assist every two games have done Gordon no harm either.

He’s an intelligent footballer and being in a better team has made him a better player. Gordon plays on the left wing and is being utilised well as part of a strong squad – he scored last week as his side came from a goal down to beat Galatasaray 4-1 away, then came off the bench in Saturday’s win over Betis.

Karim Adeyemi, another new signing, feels like a wild card that is paying off. Like Jesus, the 24-year-old, signed from Dortmund, can play across the front. He’s featured in every Barca game so far, starting four from 11, scoring four and making three assists.

His link-up down the left with Barcelona-born Xavi Espart, a 19-year-old left back, is effective. Barcelona have at least two outstanding players for every position and no attack in world football comes close – but they’re supported by so many of Spain’s World Cup winners: Dani Olmo, Pau Cubarsi, Pedri, Gavi, Eric Garcia and goalkeeper Joan Garcia.

Injury concerns

Defender Eric, 25, will be out for a month with a thigh injury picked up on Saturday. The right back, who captained the side in the previous league game, a 3-0 win against Getafe, will be missed and that area could be a problem as Jules Kounde (ankle) will also miss the game in Paris and perhaps also the Clasico.

In brighter injury news, Frenkie de Jong is back after a ligament tear at the World Cup, which kept him out for over 100 days. At least they had Pedri and Rodri in his position. There’s Gavi, too, but the 22-year-old is yet to reestablish himself after serious injuries.

Barcelona have been brilliant so far this season. It’s a shame that more fans can’t see them in person since Camp Nou’s long redevelopment still restricts the capacity to 62,600 against an eventual total of 105,000 in 2028. A shame too that tickets to see matches are so prohibitively expensive for non-season ticket holders, but there’s no denying the quality of their football.