`Euro weekend round-up: El Clasico thrashing, PSG falter, Tammy Abraham

This weekend around Europe did not disappoint as Barcelona eased past Real Madrid, PSG are still feeling the Champions League hangover and Tammy Abraham is on fire.

We’ve picked out some interesting stats from the weekend and highlighted some players and teams that stood out to us. 

 

El Clasico domination 

When these two sides last met in La Liga, Ronald Koeman was the Barcelona manager and they were languishing ninth in the table as they fell to a disappointing 2-1 loss. Fast forward the clocks five months and so much has changed at Barcelona. 

Xavi’s side are now on a 13-game unbeaten streak, having won their last five matches. Barcelona romped home with a convincing 4-0 victory, but going of the xG numbers it could have been even more. 

Barcelona created seven big chances and they accumulated an xG of 4.30, compared to Real Madrid’s 0.64.  

In the absence of Karim Benzema, Carlo Ancelotti opted to use Luka Modric as a false nine, but Barcelona were able to completely nullify him in this position as he only had 64 touches and competed no key passes.  

Barcelona’s star man was Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang once again, who now has eight goal contributions in the seven games he has played. The Gabonese striker scored a brace as well as setting up Ferran Torres for his goal.  

Barcelona’s midfield trio of Pedri, Sergio Busquets and Frenkie de Jong completed 196 passes between them as Barcelona dominated the ball with 59% possession.  

 

PSG humbling 

Despite being 12 points clear at the top of Ligue 1, it’s not all been smooth sailing for PSG this season who have now lost four of their last six matches.  

This weekend they fell to a disappointing 3-0 defeat to AS Monaco, as the questions of Mauricio Pochettino’s future continue to grow. 

PSG were without Leo Messi, who currently leads the way in Ligue 1 for assists and they desperately struggled for creativity, even with Kylian Mbappe and Neymar on the pitch. The league leaders managed to accumulate an xG of just 0.75 and Monaco were fully worth their 3-0 victory. 

Wissam Ben Yedder was Monaco’s main threat and his brace managed to propel him to the top of the Ligue 1 top goalscorers list with 17 this season.  

Ben Yedder has actually been the most clinical player in Ligue 1 this season, with an xG overperformance of 5.5 goals. The fact he is currently leading the way for goals is even more impressive when you factor in that he is only taking 1.6 shots per 90, which is considerably lower than a lot of the other high scorers in the league.  

 

 

Tammy Abraham hitting form 

Tammy Abraham was recently named in Gareth Southgate’s England squad for the upcoming friendlies and currently thriving in Serie A.  

He scored a brace this weekend against Lazio, which keeps Roma on track for European football next season, as they currently sit fifth in the league. 

Only Dusan Vlahovic and Ciro Immobile have scored more league goals than Abraham this season, who now has 15.  

Tammy Abraham has scored 30% of Roma’s goals this season and he is on track to have his best goalscoring season in one of Europe’s top leagues. 

Jose Mourinho has built the system around Abraham, who has taken 2.9 shots per 90 throughout the season so far – only seven players have averaged more shots than Abraham in the Serie A this season.  

Roma have averaged 1.7 points per game under Mourinho and if they continue on their current trajectory, they will finish the season on 65 points, which would be an improvement of three points from last season.  

They are currently eight points behind fourth-placed Juventus and so a top-four finish seems unlikely, but as they are now unbeaten in their last nine matches anything is possible.