Okay, so last night I was catching the highlights of that Liverpool vs PSG match from a while back – the one with all the drama, you know the one. Got me thinking, who actually played better, you know? Just goals don’t always tell the full story. I figured I’d actually go and look at the numbers myself instead of just listening to the pundits. Felt like a solid little project.
First thing I did was fire up the laptop and head to my usual stats sites. You know the big ones for football data. I wasn’t hunting for super obscure stuff, just the basic, important stuff everyone talks about:
- Goals (obviously!)
- Shots and Shots on Target
- Possession percentage
- Pass Accuracy
- Tackles and Interceptions
- Maybe those Expected Goals (xG) numbers everyone argues about
Found the match easily enough. Now came the slightly tedious bit: writing it all down. Seriously, I opened up a simple text doc and just started typing. Liverpool column, PSG column. Goal: Liverpool 3, PSG 2. Okay, that much we knew. Then shots… Liverpool 15, PSG 13. Shots on target though… Liverpool 7, PSG 5. Huh, slightly more efficient maybe?
Possession was next. I kinda remembered PSG hogging the ball a lot. Yep, stats backed it up: PSG had 60% possession. Felt like more watching it live! Liverpool only managed 40%. So PSG definitely controlled the ball more.
Passing… well, with all that possession, you’d think PSG would crush this. Their pass accuracy was high, like 89%. Pretty slick. But then I checked Liverpool… also 89%! That surprised me a bit. So Liverpool, despite having way less ball, passed it just as accurately when they did have it. Efficient!
Defense time. Tackles: Liverpool made 20 tackles, PSG made 15. And interceptions? Liverpool had 10, PSG had 8. So Liverpool’s defenders and midfielders were definitely busier, hassling and winning the ball back more often. Makes sense when you don’t have the ball much.
Finally, peeked at the xG. Liverpool’s was something like 2.1, PSG’s was about 1.8. So, Liverpool created slightly better chances on average, which lines up with them scoring more goals than PSG in the end.
Alright, time to actually try and answer my question: Who performed better? Well, looking at what I wrote down:
PSG dominated the ball (60% possession) and passed it smoothly (89%). But… Liverpool scored more (3 goals), got more shots on target (7 vs 5), were just as accurate with their passing despite less ball (also 89%), and were way more active defensively (20 tackles, 10 interceptions). Their xG was also slightly higher (2.1).
So yeah, it felt clear to me. PSG looked pretty controlling for large stretches, but Liverpool were brutally effective when they got the chance, pressed like crazy without the ball, and ultimately got the win backed up by the numbers. Stats aren’t everything, obviously, that Salah skill or Mbappe’s speed doesn’t show up perfectly. But based purely on this number crunching, Liverpool edged it for that all-round effectiveness, especially being so clinical with less possession.
Simple conclusion from my digging: Possession ain’t always king. Liverpool turned less ball into more threat and grafted harder defensively on that night. The stats showed it pretty plainly.
