The UEFA Champions League is down to its final fixture, with the Champions League Final taking place just 124 matches into the season since the group stage began in Milan and Bern. Saturday, Wembley StadiumWith 374 goals scored and just 53 clean sheets this year, the biggest match of the year is likely to be very different to previous ones, with the last four title matches finishing 1-0. Drama, plot twist And best of all, the statistics. real madrid And even if Borussia Dortmund remains, there will still be personal honours to be won, history to be made and curiosities to discover.
Displaying Information
- date: Saturday, June 1 | time: 3pm ET
- position: Wembley Stadium — London, UK
- tv set: tv set Live Stream: Paramount+
- Odds: Borussia Dortmund +420; Draw +330; Real Madrid -165
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Champions League final broadcast schedule
All times are Eastern US time
- Morning Footy, 11 a.m. (CBS Sports Golazo Network)
- We Need to Talk, 12:30 p.m. (CBS, Paramount+)
- UEFA Champions League: Today at 1pm (CBS Sports Golazo Network, Paramount+)
- UEFA Champions League Pre-match today, 1:30 p.m. (CBS, Paramount+)
- CBS Sports Golazo Matchday, 1:30 p.m. (CBS Sports Golazo Network)
- Borussia Dortmund vs. Real Madrid, 3 p.m. (CBS, Paramount+)
- UEFA Champions League After today’s matches, 5:30 p.m. (CBS Sports Network, Paramount+)
- Scoreline, 5:30 p.m. (CBS Sports Golazo Network)
- Champions Club, 6:30 p.m. (CBS Sports Golazo Network)
The individual leaders of the competition are:
Golden Boots
The award, which will surely one day be named the Cristiano Ronaldo Award, is likely to be decided before the end of the tournament itself. Two players, Harry Kane of Bayern Munich and Kylian Mbappe of Paris Saint-Germain, hold the top spot with eight goals each. You may remember that the semi-finals did not go to plan for either superstar, and even a player of Mbappe’s speed would not be able to move to Madrid that quickly. Unlike FIFA’s bizarre insistence that the player with the most assists should win the World Cup top scorer award, UEFA does not apply a tiebreaker to the Champions League scoring race. Kane will likely win half the trophy.
His closest rival is Antoine Griezmann. Erling Haalandreached the Champions League clubhouse with six goals but the award is likely to be shared by Kane and Mbappe, whose eight goals tally would make it the first time a player without double figures has won the Golden Boot since 2009-10, when Lionel Messi’s best figure of eight goals was in 2010 during Jose Mourinho’s less glorious Safavor era.
But this is the Champions League and honours should be awarded. Using words like “done” tends to have an incredibly restorative effect on Real Madrid. Three of its players – Vinicius Junior, Rodrigo and semi-final hero Joselu – have scored five goals so far. Three of the four players to score a hat-trick in a European Cup final have done so in a Madrid shirt. I’m just saying.
|
1. |
Harry Kane |
Bayern Munich |
8 |
36 |
6.78 |
1065 |
|
1. |
Kylian Mbappe |
Paris Saint-Germain |
8 |
51 |
8.16 |
1080 |
|
3. |
Antoine Griezmann |
Atletico Madrid |
6 |
twenty two |
4.8 |
822 |
|
3. |
Erling Haaland |
Manchester City |
6 |
43 |
6.99 |
778 |
Oh, and what about Dortmund? Niklas Flukluk with three goals. Probably not…
Assist the Leader
The heat is on! The man who now has his finger on the prize is emblematic of Borussia Dortmund’s springtime success. Marcel Sabitzer completed 213 passes, created 13 chances and contributed an expected assist (xA) of 1.32, giving him five assists, his most in the competition so far. Mbappé and Achraf Hakimi must be wondering how they can land such a finisher on the chances they create.
At Wembley, everything is still to be decided. Vinicius And Bellingham is one assist away from tying Sabitzer in points. Bellingham, in particular, has had a creative burst in the new year, rivalling David Bowie in Berlin. Eleven of his 19 chances created came at key moments in the knockout stages, as did his 1.61 xA of 2.58. Whether he’ll top the goalscoring or assists charts is anyone’s guess, but if he keeps up this form through to Wembley and the Copa America, we could be reading about the next Ballon d’Or winner.
Don’t miss Morning Footy on the CBS Sports Golazo Network, now in podcast format, where our crew will bring you the news, opinion, highlights and laughs you need to follow the beautiful sport anywhere in the world, every Monday through Friday, all year round.
Golden Globe
The football world is well aware by now that clean sheets are far from the best measure of a goalkeeper’s ability. But what else should we use? Saves? That only favours the busy players on weaker teams. Blocked goals? That’s too nerdy. Possession? What did you just say? They may not be perfect, and they may reward the whole defence rather than an individual goalkeeper, but clean sheets are good enough.
Fortunately, the spotlight is also now on who is clearly the best goalkeeper in the 2023-24 Champions League. Gregor Kobel won the title with six clean sheets, but as Chuck Booth points out: Having the best goalkeeper in the tournament is a double-edged swordAlex Remiro, David Raya, Manuel Neuer and Yann Sommer all deserve credit, but it’s the Borussia Dortmund player who wins the award. And there are plenty of other statistical criteria I could mention.
True Media
Kobel’s 42 saves are four more than anyone else in the tournament, and his 7.09 goals prevented are almost double the runner-up, recorded by Anatoly Turbin. Sommer outscores his compatriot Kobel in save percentage and goals conceded per 90 minutes, but Inter had a fairly easy group win before losing to Atletico Madrid. Half of Dortmund’s 12 games were against soft power companies of oil countries disguised as football clubs. They were in a group that also included AC Milan, and beat both of them to take the top spot… and then, after beating PSV Eindhoven and Atletico Madrid, they ran into that Sovwerth problem again. There could hardly be a tougher test for a team, especially a goalkeeper. Kobel handled it perfectly.
Other stats we like
- The problem with defensive stats is that some of your best plays with the ball stolen are preventing meaningful action. The reason opponents don’t play the long ball is because they know that. Virgil van Dijk or William Saliba Are you going to bully a centre-forward? Still, there is a world where we celebrate the proactive side of defending – being proactive in attacking opponents, taking the ball and reading the pass before it comes. Enter Mats Hummels, who topped the Champions League in tackles, interceptions and clearances, and was second in ball recoveries. Ah, well, you might think, but that’s only because he played the most minutes in the tournament. But if you adjust the figures to per 90 minutes, the Borussia Dortmund centre-back still ranks first in tackles, third in interceptions and sixth in clearances. His season has been a masterclass in busy defending.
- Shots Goals Added (SGA) is one interesting metric. Evaluating the xG value before and after a shot may not give you much more meaningful information than xG itself on long time scales. The best strikers are not necessarily the ones who go for the corners every time (though you might say Son Heung-min doesn’t), but the ones who are always in a shooting position. Still, in the relatively short life cycle of a Champions League campaign, SGA serves a different purpose, Wow The match had a huge impact on the tournament. Yes, Lautaro Martinez (34 shots, 2 goals, xG 5.13, SGA-1.83), if he had continued his good form in Serie A in the big leagues, he might have made it to the Champions League final. Fabian Ruiz, you need to work on your heading more.
- Will we see a new post-pressing approach at the top of European football? Even Borussia Dortmund are no longer practitioners of Jurgen Klopp’s heavy metal, returning to the promised land of Wembley thanks to a tight defensive line and perfect off-ball form. Manchester City’s 92.4% pass success rate is their best in five years of Champions League football. Real Madrid’s 90.1% is third, while PSG, Bayern Munich and Feyenoord were noticeably more accurate than in previous years. Pass success rate across the competition is 83.6%, compared to a slightly lower 82.1% in the 2019-20 season before COVID-19. Similarly, both teams have won the ball in midfield 22.6 times per game this year, compared to 24.3 times five years ago.
- Perhaps that can be partially explained by how long everyone has been hanging around. In the history of UEFA club competitions, 20 players have made more than 150 appearances. Four of them, Sergio RamosLuka Modric, Thomas Muller and Ivan Rakitic have all joined the club this season. Taking Champions League appearances into account, Muller now draws level with the ageless Xavi Hernandez with 151 Champions League appearances, one behind compatriot Toni Kroos, who will retire from club football after Saturday’s final. For now, at least, this means that of the 15 players with the most Champions League appearances, 10 are still active. Eight of the top 15 were managed by Carlo Ancelotti. This footballing era is over upon!
