UEFA study praises high-speed Liverpool in Champions League

GENEVA (AP):

A UEFA study of the Champions League last season suggests that speed was key to Liverpool’s title-winning campaign.

Analysing 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 of ball possession and 2.51 passes. The overall average for the 32 teams’ goals was 12.5 seconds and 3.89 passes.

The fast and intense play demanded by Liverpool coach Jürgen Klopp and other Premier League teams, including beaten finalists 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.

Work ethic

In a rare pointed criticism, the report highlighted a lack of work ethic by Barcelona in their 4-0 second-leg loss at Liverpool.

“One UEFA observer suggested that the limited defensive contributions of Lionel Messi and Luis Suárez 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 34.5kph (21.4mph) 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 Sané (34.4kph vs Hoffenheim) and Kyle Walker (34.2kph vs 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 did, measured at 33.3kph (20.7mph) against Barcelona.