No chances, low xG - stats to worry Real Madrid

7:40am on Monday 21st September 2020
By Paul Macdonald

Real Madrid's defence of their La Liga title got off to a low key start on Sunday night, as they were held to a 0-0 draw by a compact Real Sociedad side at Anoeta.

Madrid's season has started later than others due to their involvement in European competition and for spells against the Basque side it showed. Here's a breakdown of some statistics from the match which will be a concern for Madridistas.

Real Sociedad 0-0 Real Madrid: Key Stats

1) Real Madrid failed to create a single Big Chance in the contest - only Valencia, Valladolid and Huesca suffered the same fate in La Liga this weekend.

2) Madrid may have had 16 shots, but only four of them were on target. As a result their xG for the match was just 0.77.

3) Real Sociedad, meanwhile, while they were on the back foot for most of the contest, they still achieved 0.72, mainly through Alexander Isak's chance, which was the best of the match and which Thibaut Courtois did well to save.

4) Real Madrid touched the ball 27 times in the opposition area, but they just did very little with those touches, and their 212 passes into the final third were 62 more than any other team, but their passing profile was around, but not too often into dangerous areas

5) Madrid's wide forwards, Rodrygo and Vinicius Jnr, had an xA of just 0.09 between them and just one key pass each. By comparison Mikel Oyarzabal managed three key passes in his 74 minutes on the pitch for la Real.

6) Martin Odegaard played in attacking midfield but scored a 5.9 FC Rating for his ineffectual display - the lowest of any player on the pitch.

7) Madrid managed seven deep completions (passes within 20 yards of the opposition goal, not including crosses. For comparison, Liverpool achieved double that in their win against Chelsea (14).

Real Madrid MOTM: Dani Carvajal - 7.9 FC Rating

Real Madrid's next match: Real Betis (A), 27 Sep

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