Uefa heap praise on the English game
ANALYZING all 366 goals in the competition, Uefa praised Liverpool for “pace and directness when attacking the opposition” en route to the club’s sixth European title.
Liverpool’s 24 goals took an average of just 7.81 seconds possessing the ball and 2.51 passes. The overall average for 32 teams’ goals was 12.5 seconds and 3.89 passes.
The fast and intense play demanded by Liverpool coach Jurgen Klopp and other Premier League teams, including beaten finalist Tottenham, was cited as an important factor.
“The mental and physical resilience of the English participants stood out,” Uefa’s technical panel said, noting their comebacks in the second leg of their semi-finals.
“It seems reasonable to suggest the English calendar offers stern tests more regularly — in terms of high intensity, high tempo games — than Ajax, for example, face in the Eredivisie,” the report said, referring to Tottenham’s semi-final opponents.
“Similarly those clubs who win their national leagues with large points margins may suffer in the Uefa Champions League owing to the absence of a serious threat that keeps their competitive levels sky-high week in, week out,” Uefa’s experts said.
In a rare pointed criticism, the report highlighted a lack of work ethic by Barcelona in the 4-0 secondleg loss at Liverpool.
“One Uefa observer suggested that the limited defensive contributions of Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez did not help in the away tie: ‘You have to defend with 11 players’,” said the Uefa report, which did not identify the member of its 10-man technical panel.
Liverpool also won an unofficial contest for pure speed in the competition.
The fastest sprint recorded was 34.5 kph by defender Virgil van Dijk in the 3-0 first-leg loss at Barcelona.
The top three sprints were all by Premier League players, with Manchester City’s Leroy Sane (34.4 kph v Hoffenheim) and defender Kyle Walker (34.2 kph v Tottenham) next in line.
Though Paris Saint-Germain forward Kylian Mbappe is recognised for his blistering speed, he did not feature among the fastest sprints in a Champions League game in 2018/19. Former Manchester United forward Romelu Lukaku, who is now on the books of Serie A giants Inter Milan, did, measured at 33.3 kph against Barcelona.