Hansi Flick has no doubt that Barcelona's current squad is the strongest he has had since arriving at the club in 2024.

Ahead of Sunday's trip to Levante, the Blaugrana have won their first four games of the LaLiga season – making them the only team with a perfect record.

Barca have scored 17 goals in those four matches, the joint-most by any team at this stage of a LaLiga campaign in the last 39 years. 

The only other side to achieve such a figure in that period was Barca themselves in 2011-12, under Pep Guardiola.

Though Robert Lewandowski, Ferran Torres and Marcus Rashford were among those to leave the Catalan giants during the transfer window, the arrivals of Rodri, Anthony Gordon, Karim Adeyemi and Gabriel Jesus have left Flick more than satisfied with his options.

"Yes, I think it's much better than last season," Flick said, when asked if this was his most complete squad yet.

"We always talk about the attacking part, but for me the defence is also very important. 

"After the World Cup, Pau [Cubarsi] is playing at another level and I'm very happy. He is confident, he is very focused, he has improved physically and this is very important for this position. And also with the ball, he is playing very well. 

"Rodri, [Marc] Bernal can also as the six. We also have Pedri and Gavi. 

"We have two or three players in each position who can play, and those who don't play must accept it when someone else plays.

"We're in a good moment and we have to continue like this."

The two-time defending champions may not have things all their own way this weekend, though, as Levante have only lost one of their first four games.

Luis Castro's men have five points on the board, having earned a stunning 5-2 success over Real Betis in their last home game. 

They are unbeaten in their last three matches, having played out goalless draws with Osasuna and Malaga either side of that eye-catching victory, following a MD1 defeat to Espanyol.

PLAYERS TO WATCH

Levante – Roger Brugue 

Brugue has scored two goals from his last five shots in LaLiga, after netting just one goal from his previous 31 attempts in the competition.

Barcelona – Raphinha

Raphinha is only the second player to score six goals in his team's first four LaLiga games in the 21st century.

Lionel Messi did so twice for the Blaugrana, in 2012-13 and 2013-14.

And with Fermin Lopez also providing six goal involvements (four goals, two assists), he and Raphinha are the first pair of team-mates with six goal contributions in the first four matchdays of a LaLiga campaign since Messi and Luis Suarez for Barca in 2016-17.

MATCH PREDICTION – BARCELONA WIN

Levante have won two of their last six home games against Barcelona in LaLiga (D1 L3), after managing just one victory in their previous 11 such encounters (W1 D4 L6).

In addition, Saturday's hosts are also unbeaten in their last eight home games in LaLiga (W7 D1), winning the last six, their best-ever run of consecutive home victories in the top flight.

But it is easy to see why Opta's predictive model favours Flick's side.

Barca have won their first four games of the season in LaLiga, scoring five goals in each of their last two. The last team to score five or more goals in three consecutive games in the competition was Athletic Club between December 1958 and January 1959 (four straight).

The Blaugrana have also scored in all 34 of their LaLiga matches against Levante (101 goals in total), an outright record for scoring in 100% of games against a single opponent in the competition's history.

OPTA WIN PROBABILITY

Levante – 9%

Barcelona – 76.4%

Draw – 14.6%