In the Zone: Hands up for keepers Mignolet and Diogo Costa
Thursday, October 13, 2022
Article summary
Goalkeepers Simon Mignolet and Diogo Costa are under the microscope in our latest look at players' displays in the FedEx Performance Zone.
Article top media content
Article body
In an era when goals and assists appear to be the primary football currency, it is refreshing to see great goalkeeping being rewarded in the UEFA Champions League. The FedEx Performance Zone provides that recognition with no fewer than three custodians sitting in the top ten of the rankings.
In our latest stats dive, we take a look at the displays across the opening four matchweeks of the highest-placed two goalkeepers in the standings – Simon Mignolet and Diogo Costa.
Only Robert Lewandowski, Mohamed Salah and Leroy Sané sit ahead of Mignolet in the overall rankings, with the Club Brugge goalkeeper playing an essential role in leading the Belgian club to a historic first-ever round of 16 berth with two group games to spare.
The 34-year-old's numbers are beyond compare. Four clean sheets (48 points) make up a healthy proportion of his overall tally of 142, but that only begins to tell the story of his sensational displays.
Shakhtar's Anatoliy Trubin is the only No1 to make more saves than the 22 pulled off by Mignolet (66 points), while a total of 12 catches (12 points) highlights another feather in his cap. Inter's André Onana – the third and final goalkeeper in the top ten of the rankings – tops the catches metric with 17.
Given Mignolet's figures, it is hard to see how any other custodian could get close to his overall score – but enter Diogo Costa. The Porto man has a more modest two clean sheets (24 points) and 14 saves (42 points) but he has tapped into the harder-to-reach metrics to boost his overall position to eighth.
In Porto's last two matches, both against Leverkusen, the highly rated 23-year-old has denied both Patrik Schick and Kerem Demirbay from the penalty spot, those saves securing him 15 points apiece.
As if those contributions were not important enough, Diogo Costa even claimed an assist (nine points) on his latest outing, with a wonderful long-range pass releasing Galeno to open the scoring. A truly modern goalkeeper, you might say.