Can Bayern maintain their slim advantage at hostile Madrid?

Posted on April 24, 2012 by Experience SAP


Real Madrid (1) (ESP) – Bayern (2) (GER)
Matchday 12, Wednesday 25th April 2012
2nd leg, UEFA Champions League 2011/2012 Semi-finals
Estadio Santiago Bernabéu, Madrid, Spain

Bernabéu stadium, Madrid,Spain - capacity 81,254 (Source: José Porras, en.wikipedia.org)

Fresh off of their exciting 2 – 1 first leg victory, Bayern will have to play near perfect football if they hope to get to the final in their home city next month. Real Madrid have thrashed all five visiting teams to the Bernabéu this tournament. Bayern also have to accomplish something that no team has yet to do, that is to prevent Real Madrid from scoring at home, unthinkable! Therefore the Bavarians will need to spark their consistent offensive stalls outside of Germany and score at least one goal since Madrid have a precious away goal from the first leg.

Both Real and Bayern have been solid at maintaining possession in the tournament with Real Madrid making 479 more passes than Bayern through the 11 matches played so far. Nearly a majority of both teams passes have been made by their midfielders but Madrid’s forwards have touched the ball a lot more than Bayern’s. Madrid’s forwards have made over 9 percent of their teams passes while Bayern’s forwards only account for 3.64 percent of Bundesliga sides passes.

Real Madrid Home Analysis – goals! goals! goals!
Real Madrid have been nothing short of dominant in the Spanish Capital this tournament, winning all five of their home games, scoring 22 goals at the Bernabéu and conceding 5. Madrid have bombarded opposition goalkeepers at home putting 39 shots on target and missing the net 37 times.

Real Madrid's Home numbers

Bayern Away Analysis – Lack of goals!
Bayern have struggled away from Munich with a lack of goals. They have won only one match on the road, lost three and one draw. They have only scored six goals in five matches, although they do create enough chances and are rather accurate with their shots putting 41 shots on target with only 23 misses.

Bayern's Away numbers

Match Prediction

Real Madrid 3 – 0 Bayern

Madrid offense firepower will overwhelm Bayern and send the probable La Liga Champions onto the Champions League Final.

Paul the Octopus who had an incredible 100% accuracy with his match predictions in the 2010 World Cup has brought his profound predictive prowess to the Champions League. Down load the free application for your iPhone or iPad to discover who Paul has pick to be victorious.

With Paul on your mobile device get insight on the go with detailed statistics about players and teams. Check out detailed past match reports for both Bayern and Real Madrid.

Check out the full analysis on Real Madrid – Bayern here.

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Camp Nou amphitheater awaits Chelsea

Posted on April 19, 2012 by Experience SAP


Barcelona (0) (ESP) – Chelsea (1) (ENG)
Matchday 12, Tuesday 24th April 2012
2nd leg, UEFA Champions League 2011/2012 Semi-finals
Camp Nou, Barcelona, Spain

Aerial view of Camp Nou, Barcelona, Spain capacity 96,636 (Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camp_Nou)
Camp Nou is the largest stadium in Europe and the 11th largest in the world

Chelsea enter the Camp Nou amphitheater on Tuesday evening with the slenderest of leads from the first leg encounter at Stamford Bridge where they were totally outplayed by the Catalans yet still managed a famous 1 – 0 victory.

1st leg Chelsea 1 - 0 Barcelona attacking stats - Created Using Web Intelligence

Pep Guardiola’s side dominated the game with a breathtaking 861 passes while Chelsea only made 226 passes.

1st leg Chelsea 1 - 0 Barcelona Possession - Created Using Web Intelligence

How did Chelsea win with such inferior possession and goal chances?

Tournament so far

2nd leg semi-final games commence this week, Barcelona and Real Madrid lead the goalscoring table on 33 goals each. Barcelona’s possession is the best out of the four teams still left in the competition with over 9,000 passes in 11 games so far.

2012 tournament stats so far, totals from 11 games - Created Using Web Intelligence

With so much possession, it means less tackles for Barcelona. Also, Barcelona have few saves to make and of course, a minimum amount of challenges.

2012 tournament stats so far, totals from 11 games - Created Using Web Intelligence

Chelsea have made far more saves than any of the sides still left. This has to be the key to their continued progression with magnificent defensive displays like the one that we saw in the 1st clash against Barca.

With leading figures on passes and the highest number of goals so far, will Barcelona turn the screw against Chelsea in the return leg?

Match Prediction

Barcelona 4 – 1 Chelsea

I predict a complete hammering of Chelsea and a backlash from the defending champions who will be smarting from losing La Liga title race to Real Madrid on the weekend. The final score was Barcelona 1 – 2 Real Madrid with coach Pep Guardiola conceding the title to Real Madrid with four games to go and seven points adrift.

How Barcelona would love to avenge the loss to Madrid in the Champions League final!

Paul the Octopus who had an incredible 100% accuracy with his match predictions in the 2010 World Cup has brought his profound predictive prowess to the Champions League. Paul predicts a Chelsea win at Camp Nou!

What a brave little Octopus, going against my prediction. Maybe he will be right?

Download the free app on the iPhone or iPad to compare your personal predictions against Paul. Play trivia games with your friends and explorer detailed statistics about teams and players. Get insight on the go.

See Full Analysis on Barcelona – Chelsea here

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Blues battle Barcelona

Posted on April 17, 2012 by Experience SAP


Chelsea (ENG) – Barcelona (ESP)
Matchday 11, Wednesday 18th April 2012
1st leg, UEFA Champions League 2011/2012 Semi-finals
Stamford Bridge, London, England

Since sacking manager Andre Villas-Boas Chelsea have been one of the hottest clubs in Europe, making it through to the semi finals of the Champions League. This could be the year to sacrifice “all” as they are currently 6th placed in the English Premiership, outside Champions League qualification for next year’s tournament. Unfortunately for the Blues and their supporters they must overcome last year’s winner, Barcelona. Chelsea will certainly have their hands full at Stamford Bridge as the Catalans have been absolutely tearing-up opposition teams by dominating possession and goal scoring opportunities.

Tournament Analysis

Barcelona has absolutely dominated possession in the tournament as their 7,410 passes they have made in 10 matches is over 3,000 more passes than Chelsea have made. Even more impressive is that 89 percent of passes have been completed successfully compared to Chelsea’s comparative figure of 82 percent .

Chelsea does have an advantage in the amount of field changing and goal opportunity crosses they have successful completed. Barcelona have only managed to successfully complete 29 out of their 139 crosses whilst Chelsea have tallied 69 more crosses and successfully connected on 38 more than their Spanish opposition. Barcelona is the highest scoring team in the tournament so this is surprising that they don’t have a higher figure. Although this is probably due to a style of play more than anything else. Chelsea must continue to prevent Barcelona from connecting on crosses or Messi and the rest of the Barca attack may easily leave the Blues black and blue.

Chelsea have nearly matched Barcelona in generating goal scoring opportunities. Both Chelsea and Barcelona have 79 shots in target in the 10 matches they have played and Barcelona’s 73 misses are only two more than Chelsea’s.

Chelsea will need their defense on point to quell the high powered Barcelona attack. Chelsea’s defense has accumulated much greater statistical numbers than Barcelona’s including 171 more clearances. However due to their nearly total domination of possession Barcelona haven’t spent a lot of time on defense. The fact that Chelsea only has 45 more tackles demonstrates how effective and aggressive Barcelona is at holding possession.

Match Prediction

Chelsea 1 – Barcelona 1

Paul the Octopus who had an incredible 100% accuracy with his match predictions in the 2010 World Cup has brought his profound predictive prowess to the Champions League. Paul predicts this clash of European heavyweights will end in a draw!

Download the free app on the iPhone or iPad to compare your personal predictions against Paul. Play trivia games with your friends and explorer detailed statistics about teams and players. Get insight on the go.

See the full analysis on Chelsea – Barcelona here

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