Beyond Stats

Fact of the week

Vini Jr. is LaLiga Santander’s dribbles king

Real Madrid’s left wing is one of the areas of the pitch in which they get the most joy when it comes to posing an attacking threat, with Carlo Ancelotti’s troops frequently using carries and dribbles to get in behind the opposition’s defence. The main man on the left of midfield is, without question, Vinicius.

The Brazilian trickster ranks in second place in the league standings for high-impact carries and sits top of the pile for the number of dribbles. These actions help the team to gain yards in the final third and are a central feature of Real Madrid’s build‑up play. The following graphic displays the areas of the pitch in which the dribbles are made, while the video clip shows one of Vini’s most recent dribbling runs.

Remarkable Coach

All eyes on the final third for Ancelotti

Real Madrid are one of the top‑flight teams that spend the most time in the final third. This is reflected not only by the number of passes they play in the attacking third, but also their high-impact actions. The Chamartin-based outfit are the LaLiga Santander bridesmaids for high-impact carries, which are those that lead to a goalscoring opportunity. This statistic owes much to Vinicius, who ranks in second place in the league charts in this area and tops the LaLiga Santander dribbling standings. It is also worth pointing out that no LaLiga player plays more passes in the final third than Toni Kroos. As we can see, both individually and at team level, the capital club are impressive performers in the final third.

Key Player

Raphinha is the difference-maker

Raphinha’s goalscoring exploits are allowing Barça to almost forget about their injury woes. The influential forward can pose a threat virtually anywhere in the opposition’s half. The following graphic shows all of the instances in which he has been involved in high-impact actions that have led to an attempt on goal and the area of the pitch in which these take place. We can see that he has a tendency to drift to the right flank and how he breaks beyond opposition backlines with ease. His six‑goal haul gives him an average of almost 0.5 goals per game, which is an impressive return from the Brazilian baller.

The Match up

ElClasico offers guaranteed drama

Barcelona and Real Madrid are both dominant forces across a whole host of the LaLiga Santander rankings, particularly in terms of build-up play and finishing. In this section, we compare the teams’ data in a radar chart. We note that Real Madrid post more attempts on goal, more passes in the final third and chalk up more successful dribbles than their Catalan counterparts. For their part, the Cules perform particularly well when it comes to goalkeeping, quick recoveries (those within the first five seconds after possession is lost) and recoveries made in the opposition’s half.

The video clip offers evidence of the Azulgranas’ passing sequences, with Xavi’s men recording more passes than any other side in the league.

Remember his name

Asensio excels in attempts stakes

Marco Asensio features amongst the top 10 LaLiga Santander players for attempts on goal. Based on the data obtained from his minutes on the pitch, it becomes clear just what a pivotal figure he is for Los Blancos. As we can see from the graphic, the attacking ace chalks up almost as many attempts on goal from inside the area as he does from outside. What’s more, there is a real symmetry to the areas in which his attempts originate. The five goals he has scored this term put him in fourth spot in the Madrid scoring charts. Meanwhile, his shot conversion rate of almost 18% sees him claim the last place on the team podium in this department.

Metric of the week

Dangerous recoveries

Regaining possession is a crucial aspect of the game, but it must be pointed out that not all recoveries have the same impact on a match. It is for this very reason that we have created the dangerous recoveries metric, which measures how many players are positioned ahead of the ball, including those on the in-possession team and the opposing side, when possession is regained. Recoveries can be divided into two categories: dangerous recoveries, which occur when the number of players ahead of the ball on both teams is similar, and recoveries with no advantage, i.e., when there are more opposing players than in-possession players ahead of the ball when a team win the ball back.

Beyond Stats ofrece métricas increíbles en la industria del fútbol: no se limita a recopilar los datos que se suelen usar para los análisis estándarque llegan a los aficionados, sino que va más allá, recopilando una cantidad ingente de información durante el partido, casi en tiempo real, gracias a la herramienta Mediacoach de LaLiga, que es capaz de revelar nuevas percepciones sobre el juego a un nivel más profundo permitiendo trazar patrones y obtener proyecciones de futuro.

Los datos brutos recogidos (Raw Data) son tratados para su análisis por un equipo multidisciplinar compuesto por expertos en Business Intelligence & Analytics y análisis futbolístico de LaLiga a través de procesos de Machine Learning e Inteligencia Artificial que se han hecho posibles gracias a la tecnología Azure que provee Microsoft, capaz de procesar grandes volúmenes de datos. Tras su tratamiento, se genera un algoritmo que permite la visualización de las métricas que llegan al aficionado por medio de Beyond Stats. Estas estadísticas permiten a los aficionados entender mejor por qué su equipo ha ganado un partido, lo ha perdido, o tener una visión panorámica de su rendimiento y expectativas, lo que permite una inmersión inédita en la experiencia del espectador de fútbol.

En todos los estadios de LaLiga encontramos hasta dieciséis cámaras perimetrales fijas de alta resolución para el tracking óptico que siguen en el terreno de juego la situación de jugadores, árbitros y balón, recogiendo datos físicos y técnico-tácticos a un ritmo vertiginoso de 25 veces por segundo.

“Encontramos hasta dieciséis cámaras perimetrales fijas de alta resolución para el tracking óptico”

Estos dispositivos permiten la integración, a través de la herramienta de análisis Mediacoach, de dos tecnologías: tracking y eventing. El tracking se apoya en la información de seguimiento recogida por las cámaras perimetrales del estadio, y permite elaborar métricas como las referidas a distancia recorrida, velocidad máxima y media, o número de sprints. Mediante el eventing se registran los eventos más objetivables: número de pases, córners, o faltas cometidas y recibidas. La información captada a través de tracking y eventing se integra y almacena en el sistema formando un conjunto de datos de gran volumen.