Beyond Stats

Fact of the week

Barcelona lead in getting balls into the box

This matchday our attention turns to the big clash between Atletico Madrid and FC Barcelona, and we begin by analysing Xavi’s charges in this section. Barcelona are the team who play the most passes or dribble the most balls into the box. However, in terms of passes, there are a host of other metrics on which they occupy the top spots. They are top on forward passes and second on passes leading to shots. They are also second-placed on high-impact attacking actions, averaging almost 20 per game.

In the figure accompanying this section, you can see all of the passes into the box which they made in the match against RCD Mallorca alone.

Remarkable Coach

Intensity remains El Cholo’s calling card

Despite the fact that Los Rojiblancos were unable to manage a victory in their last game, there are metrics on which they have remained highly ranked since the start of the season. This consistency helps us to understand the overall performance levels of a team who are holding on to fourth place. Atletico are the ensemble with the third-most high-impact attacking actions and the one with the most shots on target. They also are the team who unleash the second-most shots from inside the box. And a big factor in El Cholo’s side managing to generate these chances is their passing, evidenced by the fact that they are among the top five for total passes in LALIGA.

Key Player

Lamine continues to shine

He makes an impact in every match he plays and continues to breed hope among the Azulgrana faithful. The stats also confirm this feeling, and there is no question that he is racking up some impressive stats. He makes the podium in LALIGA on carries between the lines and is the player on his team who takes the third-most shots. This underlines his importance not just for the team, but in the competition as a whole. What’s more, he is in the top 6 for dribbles and the top 10 for carries into the box. The ability to beat players remains one of the most prized skills in Xavi’s team.

The Match up

Game of the matchday: Atletico Madrid v Barcelona

On the face of it, they may seem like two very different sides, but there are patterns which show that they are not so far removed from the other teams in the competition. If we focus on the qualities that set them apart, we see that Atletico produce more shots on target as a function of their total shots, and they also score more goals as a function of their shots. Nevertheless, Barcelona come out on top in the radar chart on the total number of shots, and also edge Atletico on passes played per possession. Ahead of this big match, it is also worth noting that Atletico are the LALIGA team with the fifth-most total recoveries.

Metric of the week

Players involved per possession

For a long time now, possessions have ceased to be viewed as a simple percentage, and our continued analysis of the attacking phase of play brings us to the metric of the week: players per possession. This consists of measuring how many players are involved in attacking phases; i.e., how many players come into contact with the ball in each possession. This is a way of quantifying the degree to which the entire team are involved in this aspect of the game. Girona FC make the top three on this metric in LALIGA.

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.