Real Madrid 5
xG 4.54
(Modric 6 PEN, Rodrygo 21 PEN, Asensio 51, Vinicius 61 and Valverde 71)
Celtic 1
xG 2.06
(Jota 84)
Real Madrid had just under 3.0 xG by 25 minutes and were the gulf in class that we all expected.
Celtic ended up with their highest xG of the campaign on the most difficult tie of the group.
Celtic's total possession was 35.3% which was the same as the first game against Real Madrid.
Looking at the 5 minutes possession stats the best spell for Celtic was 35 to 40 minutes when Celtic had 60% possession.
Celtic lined up with;
Hart
Juranovic, Carter-Vickers, Jenz and Taylor
Mooy, O'Riley and Hatate
Abada, Kyogo and Maeda
Celtic had 148 unsuccessful pressures in this game which is the most in any game and the pressures success rate of 12.4% was the lowest of any game they had played in the Champions League this year.
Pressures by player for all 6 games below.
Taylor with the most by far as a defender and also the most pressure regains average of 3 per game.
Abada improved in the last 2 games with 20% successful pressures but is still the lowest on 14%. However Maeda went back the way with 11% against Real Madrid taking his average for the 6 games to 14%. He still has the most pressures per 90 at 34 (if you exclude McCarthy who is an outlier with only 9 minutes).
Mooy the lowest in the team with 7% success rate.
O'Riley has the most as a midfielder at 29 pressures per 90.
Abildgaard has the most pressure regains per 90 at 9 although has only completed 63 minutes.
Abildgaard had 3 pressure regains from 5 attempts in 9 minutes against Real Madrid compared to O'Riley's 2 pressure regains from 32 attempts in 90 minutes. Hatate and Maeda also had 3 pressure regains but from 12 and 28 pressures and in 82 and 64 minutes.
In my opinion if you are going to play Real Madrid in Madrid then you should play a defensive midfielder in the defensive midfield role.
Summary;
Performance - From an attacking perspective this was Celtic's best game for chance creation with an xG of 2.06.
Match Trends - A very similar game to the first game at Celtic Park with 35% possession however Celtic had 169 pressures in this game versus 121 in the first game creating a very open game.
Player watch - Abildgaard had 3 pressure regains in only 9 minutes compared to O'Riley's 2 in 90 minutes.
Celtic Trends 🍀📈⚽️
Tony@CelticTrends.com