Barcelona and Manchester City can both claim, along with Napoli, to be the best sides in Europe at the moment. All three have made unbeaten starts to their league season, and in the cases of Barcelona and City, those starts are practically identical.

There are plenty of similarities between the La Liga and Premier League leaders – the high-flying, free-flowing attack, the possession football, the stellar playmakers (Pep Guardiola firmly believes the only player in the world better than Kevin de Bruyne is Lionel Messi), and then there are the astonishing numbers.

The one statistic that’s not on the graphic above is that both sides have healthy leads at top of their league tables – seven points for Barca, eight for City. It’s only November and both have rivals who will not give up the fight, but at the moment, they’re clear front-runners for domestic glory.

Barcelona face their toughest test of the season so far next week, with a trip to second-placed Valencia, while City’s moment of reckoning is also coming soon as they play Manchester United on December 10.

If the two teams’ stats are identical, and this good, after those games, there’s a strong likelihood that at the end of the season, it won’t just be the numbers and playing styles that Barcelona and Man City have in common.