UEFA Champions League 2021/22 : Besiktas vs Borussia Dortmund – stats gallery | OneFootball

Borussia Dortmund defeated Besiktas 2-1 away from home on Wednesday in their UEFA Champions League opener.

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:

Why did Besiktas struggle defensively? Who was the best player on the pitch?

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.

The home team started the match with a 4-1-4-1 formation with Michy Batshuayi up the pitch as the single forward.

Besiktas played predominantly through the middle in the opposition half with the left-back and right-back providing width.

The visitors started the game with a 4-2-3-1 formation with Erling Haaland as the lone striker with Marco Reus behind as the number 10.

Average positions show that Dortmund played mostly in the opposition half with the midfielders holding a narrow line near the centre.

Dortmund had 15 shots in the match with an xG of 2.50 scoring two goals. Besiktas took 11 shots but were less threatening with an xG of 1.03 scoring only one goal. Both the teams were equally defensively active.

Erling Haaland had the highest xG in the match with 1.05. He had the most shots in the match (5) scoring one goal.

Wellington Silva had the most recoveries in the opposition half (7) while Francisco Montero had 18 final third passes.

Besiktas had almost all shots inside the box scoring a goal from there. They took a few shots from outside the box as well but had only three shots on target.

Dortmund took almost all shots inside the box, scoring twice from seven shots on target.

Besiktas did start the game on a high note but Dortmund scored two goals in the first half to take control of the game. They kept their control in the second half as well and a solitary injury-time goal could not save Besiktas.

Besiktas had 57% of ball possession throughout the game. Souza received the most passes (70) while Miralem Pjanic and goalscorer Fransisco Montero attempted 83 passes each.

Dortmund had only 43% of the ball with Manuel Akanji playing the most passes (70) and Mahmoud Dahoud receiving the most in midfield (48)

Besiktas played the most passes in midfield including four successful smart passes. They used both the flanks to put a lot of crosses into the box with Fabrice N’Sakala delivering the most (7)

Borussia Dortmund played most of their passes in the right side of midfield near the centre. They played three successful smart passes and mainly delivered crosses from the right-wing, very few, however, one of them resulted in the assist for Jude Bellingham’s goal.

Besiktas had their highest xT zones in the left-wing. Welinton Silva was the best passer with 93.67% accurate balls.

Miralem Pjanic had the highest xT from passes (0.67) in the team while Michy Batshuayi had the most from dribbles (0.116)

Dortmund had their highest xT zones in the penalty box with Akanji playing 94.03% of accurate passes.

Jude Bellingham was the most threatening passer with an xT of 0.46.

Marco Reus had a low xT due to unsuccessful dribble attempts while Donyell Malen had the most (0.071) xT from dribbles.

Besiktas lost the majority of their defensive duels with Valentin Rozier and Josef de Souza losing seven duels each.

They were extremely poor in the air and lost almost 80% of their aerial duels. Welinton Silva, Valentin Rozier and Fransisco Montero were all unimpressive losing all of their duels.

They performed better in terms of loose ball recoveries. Hutchinson and Montero were impressive winning the majority of their duels.

Dortmund won a lot of duels in the midfield and defensive third. Akanji won five duels while Dahoud won four of his.

Dortmund won the majority of their duels in air. Akanji again won all of his duels while Malen and Hummels lost all of their duels.

They were comparatively poor in the 50-50 balls and lost the majority of them. Dahoud, Bellingham and Malen were not impressive.

Borussia Dortmund were by far the better team on the pitch in every sphere be it attack or defence and won the match deservedly. Besiktas would like to improve in certain areas as they could not pose much of a threat. Bellingham was arguably the player of the match with a goal and an assist.

If you want to download the stats in PDF format you can do it here: UCL Stats Analysis: Besiktas vs Borussia Dortmund