Stats Gallery: xT timelines, smart passes, PPDA and more from PSG vs Man City in the UCL | OneFootball

PSG hosted Pep Guardiola’s Man City at the Parc des Princes on Matchday 2 of the  2021/22 UEFA Champions League season. The Parisians were able to pull out a 2-0 victory with a first-half goal from defensive midfielder Gueye after just eight minutes, followed by a second-half stunner by Lionel Messi, who scored his first goal for his new club. Man City had a lion’s share of possession in the match but were unable to make a real impact to convert that possession into goals.

We’ve broken down all the key stats for you to digest, including; * shot maps * xT (expected threat) * pass networks * xG timelines * defensive duels * average positions and much more!

We also try to answer some questions for you with the visuals;

Which PSG player attempted the most number of passes? What were the passing zones for Manchester City?

To navigate the stats gallery simply click on the numbers to move through the pages.

At the end of the gallery, you’ll be able to download the full PDF stats report.

Mauricio Pochettino line up the PSG side in a 4-3-3 formation giving Gianlkugi Donarumma a rare start in goal ahead of Keylor Navas. The back four included left-back Nuno Mendes, centre-backs Kimpembe and Marquinhos, and right-back Achraf Hakimi. The midfield included goalscorer Idrissa Gueye on the left, Ander Herrera on the right and Marco Verrati running the game from the centre. Pochettino decided to play the highly awaited trio of Neymar, Mbappe and Messi up front for the second straight UCL game. The average positions of the PSG players how that they did not have a lot of the possession and were absorbing the pressure from Man City, waiting to attack the counter. Messi was frequently dropping deeper into midfield to help in the buildup, and show his creativity. Pep Guardiola lined up the Manchester City team in a 4-3-3 formation, selecting Raheem Sterling to lead the line playing in the centre of the front three, with Jack Grealish on the left, and Riyad Mahrez on the right. The midfield included Kevin De Bruyne on the left, Bernardo Silva on the right and Rodri in defensive midfield. The average positions of the Man City players show that they had a large chunk of the possession in the match, and had much more advanced positions on the field. Most players had an average position in the opposition box and were interchanging positions on multiple occasions. The home side only had 44% of the possession in the match, and only created an xG of 0.79 in the match. They only took five shots in the match, hitting the target thrice and scoring a goal in each half. Man City had much more of the ball in the match, with a large number of passes and a high number of attacks. The Citizens had an xG of 1.80 in the match, taking a total of 15 shots and hitting the target seven times.

Bernardo Silva had the highest individual xG in the game with 0.82, while Geuye had the highest xG for PSG with 0.31. Riyad Mahrez took a total of six shots in the game, with Laporte and Rodri both putting 14 passes each into the final third. The above viz is PSG’s shot map in the match against Man City, They only took five shots in the game, hitting the target three times. Gueye scored the first goal from close to the six-yard box, while Messi doubled the lead in the second half with a clean left-footed strike from the edge of the box. Manchester City’s shot map of the match shows the 15 shots they took in the match. They had three or four shots from long range, with the rest of the shots taken from inside the box. A majority of the shots were taken from the right side of the box as they hit the target seven times but failed to score. The xT creation timeline of the match shows that it were the visitors who created a very large majority of the threat in the match. PSG only created threats in the moments of counterattacks but were unable to score. The xG creation timeline shows that Man City created much more xG all over the 90 minutes.PSG’s pass matrix shows that they did not have a lot of passes in the match having only 44% possession in the match. Achraf Hakimi attempted a total of 60 passes in the match, while Lionel Messi received the most passes for The Parisians with 45 followed by Neymar’s 44. Man City’s pass matrix shows that they had a large number of passes to show for their large amount of possession in the match. Joao Cancelo attempted the most passes in the match with 89, as he also received the most passed with 68. The passing zones of the home team show that they had a large part of their passes completed on the left side of midfield. Kylian Mbappe put four crosses into the box, while Neymar put three passes into the box. They did not have many attacks or crosses in the match, as they were mostly relying on counterattacks.

Other than Mbappe, Neymar and Hakimi also had some noticeable xT creation from passing. Mbappe and Neymar were the only two who had xT creation from dribbling for them.

The xT creation zones for Man City show that they had a lot of threat creation in the opposition half. They also created a lot of xT(expected threat) on both the left and right sides of the 18-yard box. Cancelo had the highest xT creation among the Citizens.

Other than Cancelo, Mahrez and De Bruyne also had decent xT creation from their passes in the match. Riyad Mahrez had a great game, having the highest xT creation from dribbling as well.PSG faced a lot of duels in the match, especially in defence, winning almost 50% of the duels in the match. Kimpembe won three defensive duels, with a lot of other players winning one or two. There were only eight aerial duels in the match, and PSG won only three of these, won by Marquinhos and Mbappe. The Parisians won a few loose ball duels in midfield and defence, with Gueye making three loose ball recoveries, with a lot of other players winning one or two each.

The visitors contested a large number of defensive duels in the match, especially in attack. Rodri and Mahrez both won the most defensive duels in the match with four wins. As mentioned earlier, there were very few aerial duels to contest in the match. Rodri won two aerial duels for Man City in the game. Manchester City made a lot of loose ball recoveries in the attacking third of the field, with Laporte and Bernardo Silva both making two recoveries each.

PSG had started their UCL campaign with a draw at Club Brugge but came back strong with a win at home against Manchester City to go to the top of the group. Manchester City defeated Leipzig 6–3 in the first game, but their progress came to a halt after losing to PSG. Both teams will hope to go through from the group stages into the knockout phase of the 21/22 UCL campaign.

If you want to download this stats report in a PDF you can do so here:

UCL Stats Gallery: Paris Saint-Germain vs Manchester City.