Champions League Dec 8/9

[CristRo7]

Final matches of a group stage of the Champions League will be played this week. Let's look at the corner kicks statistics of teams just before the last round of the main club tournament of Europe.

All teams played 5 matches and only 3 clubs made more corners than opponents in all 5 games. These clubs appeared to be: Barcelona, Real Madrid and Lyon. The Spanish clubs are well known favourites, so such statistics is expected from them. Each of them has the lead in the group with 13 gained points. But quite unexpectedly to see near them Lyon which has only one point in five games. Four clubs won by corner kicks in 4 of 5 games: Atletico Madrid, Sevilla, Manchester United and Bayern Munich. Atletico Madrid, Manchester United and Bayern Munich are leaders of their groups, but Sevilla with three points takes the last place in the group and fight only for the League Europe.

Besides those teams who won by corner kicks in all matches, there are also those teams which lost all matches by corner kicks: FC BATE Borisov and Borussia M'glad. However, both clubs had very serious opponents: Juventus, Manchester City and Sevilla (for German team); Barcelona, Bayer and Roma (for Belarusians). Many teams lost 4 of 5 matches by corner kicks. Among them it is expected to see outsiders of groups - FK Astana, Malmo FF, Dinamo Zagreb, Maccabi Tel Aviv, but quite unexpected to see favourites: Zenit which won all 5 matches and PSG which has already booked its place in the knockout rounds.

By average total quantity of corners per match there are in the lead Borussia M'glad, Arsenal, Valencia, Dinamo Zagreb and Manchester City. In matches with participation of these teams 12 or more corner kicks were delivered on the average. Thus opponents of Borussia M'glad made more than 9 corner kicks on the average, and the opponents of Zagreb Dynamo made 8. But in average total corners of Valencia matches which equals to 12,4, 7,2 corner kicks are the share of football players of Valencia.

And here is the teams with the lowest average total corners: Bayer, Wolfsburg and FC BATE Borisov with less than 8 total corner kicks per match. So FC BATE Borisov delivered altogether just 5 corners in 5 matches, while his opponents made 34.

Also Bayer Leverkusen and PSV are among the teams which are the most low-delivering corners with just 15 corners in 5 matches. Maccabi Tel Aviv and Malmo FF delivered only 16 corners, and Wolfsburg and FK Astana 17. The most of corners made Atletico (41) and Bayern Munich (40) and it is mare than 8 corner kicks per match.

Till now We analyzed attacking potential of teams but let's look at the teams where their opponents delivered the least of corners. Barcelona is in leaders again here: in 5 games it allowed opponents to deliver corner only 6 times (i.e. it is less than 2 corner kicks per match). Leaders in this stats are also Bayern Munich, Manchester United and Real (in matches against these teams opponents made altogether less than 13 corner kicks). Teams which allowed opponents to deliver the most of corners are Borussia from Menkhengladbakh (44 corner kicks in 5 matches), Malmyo (43 corner kicks) and Maccabi (42 corner kicks).

It is expectedly to see Barcelona among leaders bY difference of corners (delivered 6.4 corners more than opponents on the average), and also Bayern Munich (delivered 5.4 corners more than opponents on the average) and Atletico (with the positive average difference of 4,6 corner kicks). From the opposite side - FC BATE Borisov, Malmo FF and Maccabi Tel Aviv. In matches against Belarusians opponents made 5,8 corner kicks more on the average, against Swedes - 5,4 corners more on the average, and against Israelis - on corners more on the average.

 

[paul8209]

Champions League PSV vs CSKA

The visitors need all three points to claim a Europa League place and we have discussed many times how much respect teams from the East give that competition and we can expect them to play a big part in what could develope into a wide open encounter. PSV are in a strange situation, they are currently third and would advance to the CL knockout stage with a win, or a point if Manchester United lose, so they could finish first or last in this section and that is rare on Matchday 6. They are looking to become the first Dutch club to reach the knockout stages for nine long seasons and that brings with it additional pressure, especially with the failure of the national team to reach Euro 2016. They have seen off Manchester United and Wolfsburg here, scoring twice in each and also in a 3-2 loss in Moscow and something similar to that result in the reverse fixture would not surprise, with PSV probably nervous, having one eye on the match in Wolfsburg (odd for a Dutch team to want a German side to win !) and CSKA having no option but to gamble.

The visitors , that win over PSV aside, have not shown the attacking flair and gung-ho nature this season , that we have seen previously from them in the competition and are currently in a slump, with just one point from their last six starts in all competitions, they do still lead their domestic league, which is now in the Winter break after last weekend's round of games, so no need to hold anything back and a win would provide a much needed boost. However, on top of everything else, they have a bit of an injury crisis and several players including central defender Vasili Berezutski, left back Georgi Shchennikov and midfielder Roman Eremenko stayed behind in Moscow. Also, here is an incredible stat , goalkeeper Igor Akinfeev has conceded in his last 36 matches in the Champions League, a run stretching back some nine years ! I guess that PSV would like to play this a little more cautiously, but I suspect that CSKA will dictate how this match plays out and they have nothing to gain by sitting back, they also have a history of letting games slip away from them quickly when they trail on the road. PSV have won 8 of their last 9 home games, they conceded in six of those (5 wins) and both to score and PSV to win, looks the very likely outcome again this evening.

over 3 goals 2.16 asian line/Sportmarket.

both teams to score and PSV to win 3.10-3.25 general quote, bigger in a few places.

from Sports Betting Advice Service Clubgowi

 

[paul8209]

Champions League Gent - Zenit St Petersburg

Zenit have finally fulfilled their potential in the Champions League and have already secured first place in the group, it has come at a cost domestically and it is no coincidence that the Premier Liga form of both Zenit and CSKA, the two CL teams, has nosedived in recent weeks, anyway, that can wait for another day. Their domestic campaign doesn't restart until March and they need to rest now and come back early to try and get into some sort of match shape for the first round of knockout games in mid February, that process has already started and several players including Hulk (who has already been allowed to return to Brazil) have not made the trip. Head coach Andre Villas-Boas has been open about his thinking and said on the club website earlier this week " In this situation, we have to decide what is more important , this match or the last 16, we should not forget about the dream of the quarter-finals, so we need to be a little more pragmatic." He then went on to give us the all too familiar football talk about "doing our best in every game and loooking for the win", but I think the first comments were the most telling and pertinent.

Gent have already taken four points from home games with Valencia and Lyon and took Zenit closer in St Petersburg than those two and would secure progression today with three points, or if Valencia failed to beat Lyon, but the Spanish club have a new coach to impress and I expect them to win on his official home debut and I am close to certain that Gent will need a maximum return here to progress. Hulk has contributed (goals/assists) to 7 of Zenit's 12 goals in the competition and they obviously lose a lot of offensive threat in his absence, centre back Nicolas Lombaerts started his professional career at Gent and went to University in the city and has spoken about returning to play for the club one day and conspiracy theorists could have a field day if he scores an own goal or makes a couple of errors !

Gent -0.5 ball 2.26 asian line/Sportmarket

from Sports Betting Advice Service Clubgowi

 

[Raj Guru]

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