Champions League group stage goals analysis

There were 296 goals scored in the Champions League group stage at an average of 3.09 per match – with Manchester City, last term's top scorers, leading the way again with 18 goals.

For UEFA's analysis unit, the way the goals were scored was the main area to explore – and the ensuing analysis looks at a range of aspects including the types of attack and assist, and the number of touches taken by the scorer.

This first bar chart above provides a breakdown of the type of attacks which led to goals in the group stage – and it shows that 25% of them came from a spell of organised possession. This refers to when a team attack in a controlled manner against opponents who are set up in an organised, low defensive block.

The next most common type of attack leading to goals was the ‘breakthrough’, which accounted for 17% of the goals. Previously such attacks would have featured in the ‘Organised possession’ category but to provide a clearer understanding, we have classified them differently as these are attacks which end against a high or mid-block – for example, if a team build from the back and play through the lines on their way to goal, without allowing their opponents to reorganise into a structured low block.

It is also insightful to look at the type of assist which led to goals and the chart above gives a breakdown which shows us that, in the case of almost one-third of the group-stage goals (31%), there was no assist with the scorer reacting first to a rebound or deflection or winning the ball off his opponent.

When the ball came from a team-mate, crosses were the most popular source (23%), which continues a tendency from recent seasons. Through-balls (14%) ranked high too and here we should point out that this category includes any pass – long or short – which breaks the last line of defence.

To return to the question of crosses, one member of UEFA’s Technical Observer Panel reflected that he seldom sees goals from high crosses whipped over from by the corner flag. The assist location map above underlines his point, showing that 30% of goals came from balls – low crosses or cutbacks – delivered from the right or left sides of the penalty box.

To move on to the speed of scoring, the bar chart above shows that more than half of the goals scored (53%) came from moves of between one and five passes. At the other end of the scale, 16% of goals followed moves of ten passes or more. To see where scoring moves began, the 3D visualisation below offers a clear guide.

In the Champions League, where space is at a premium, an attacking player needs to perform with optimal speed and precision and, to illustrate the point, consider that with almost two-thirds of the group-stage goals (63%), the scorer required just one touch before putting the ball into the net.

Tied in with the pie chart above, the graphic below underlines why speed is of the essence: with 68% of goals scored, there was direct pressure on the scorer from the opposition – hence the need to get away shots with as few touches as possible.

To move the focus to set-play goals, these accounted for 89 of the goals scored – 30% of the overall tally. This total includes 35 goals from corners and ten from throw-ins – the latter the reward for good movement from those touchline restarts.

Six goals were scored from direct free-kicks – two of them from Galatasaray winger Hakim Ziyech in the same game, the 3-3 home draw with Manchester United

• This analysis concludes a series of articles produced by UEFA’s analysis unit over the course of the 2023/24 Champions League group stage – another step forward in the provision of insights for the community of analysts and coaches across Europe.

Atle Rosseland, the Supervisor for Performance Analysis in UEFA’s Footbal department, said: “Krzysztof Waloszczyk has led all UEFA’s football projects this year with the support of Jozef Záhorský, Technical Education manager, and I genuinely believe we are on the right track in regards of collecting bespoke insights from all senior club and national team competitions.

“The ultimate aim is to standardise collection of video and data across all our tournaments and deliver this intel to all clubs in national associations within the UEFA family.”