Comparing the stats of the major Champions League contenders

The league leaders from England, Spain, Italy, Germany, France and the Netherlands all remain in the Champions League, but who's been playing best this season?

Manchester City, Real Madrid, PSG, Bayern Munich and Inter Milan all currently sit atop their respective leagues. They are also considered some of the favourites to win the Champions League this year. But who is the out-and-out favourite?

Comparing the five using measured statistics can help aid answer that question so here we rank them using each team's overall rating from WhoScored. And, we've thrown a sixth team, Eredivisie-topping Ajax, into the mix. You'll see why...

6. Inter Milan - 6.86

The thing that each of the three teams with a sub-7 rating have in common is poor discipline. All three have racked up 40 or more yellow cards for the season so far already, with Inter being the worst offender with 44.

That can be the only explanation for their relatively low WhoScored rating as, disciplinary issues aside, they compare well.

Their 54 goals scored is respectable and puts them in fourth in that category. And it’s made more impressive considering they rank fifth for shots per game with 17.1 and joint fifth for shots on target per game with 6.7. 

They have also conceded only 19 goals all season, which puts them joint-third for least amount conceded.

It must be the fact that they hover around in the middle of the pack for most of their stats which has them at the bottom of this comparison. Fourth for tackles per game and joint-fifth for interceptions isn’t the strongest defensively. And 12.5 fouls per game, which is the most, adds to their poor discipline and reasoning as to why they rank bottom.

 

5. Real Madrid - 6.89

Real Madrid’s score of 6.89 is similar to Inter’s score of 6.86 in that, upon first look, their stats don’t appear all to different to those of the teams above them in this comparison.

Once again, the disciplinary issues will have played a factor: 42 yellow cards for the season isn’t fantastic, along with fifth for fouls per game with 11.

They also have the lowest goal difference. Their total of 48 goals scored for the season is the lowest, and with 20 conceded, which is second most, their difference of 28 doesn’t look too strong against the rest.

There are numerous positives for Real, though.

They exceed their expected goals and expected goals conceded. Their 48 goals surpasses their xG of 42 and the 20 conceded is 4.7 less than their xGA. 

The stats show a creative flair that comes along with the Spanish game. A total of 12.4 successful dribbles per game is third-highest and is made better by Real being the second most fouled team, which on paper shows a team that has to be hacked down to stop.

4. Paris Saint-Germain 6.91

For the powerhouse team that Paris Saint-Germain have built, sitting at fourth on this list should be considered disappointing. In fact, delving deeper into their statistics, it's surprising that they’re not lower.

Their total of 40 yellow cards is a little better than Real and Inter’s, but PSG have also picked up three red cards. It is surprising to not see them at the bottom for that alone.

Their passing game is the best aspect for them, ranking number one for pass completion percentage with 90.5% and third for possession with 64%. Keeping and moving the ball is their strong point.

But their scoring is best described as just OK. A tally of 51 goals is the second fewest, and with an attack of Messi, Neymar and Mbappe, you’d expect a lot more from the French side.

3. Bayern Munich - 7.06

Being the goal-scoring machine that is Bayern Munich, fronted by their best worker, Robert Lewandowski, isn’t enough to put the German team on the top spot. 

Bayern have managed a whopping 68 goals in 21 games already this season. With 13 games remaining, if they can keep up their current pace of 3.24 goals scored a game - the highest on this list by a sizeable margin - they will easily surpass the current record for most goals scored in a Bundesliga season. A record they already hold.

Aside from that impressive feat, though, Bayern have surprisingly conceded the most goals on this list with 21. That is still a second-best 47 goal difference, but it's unexpected nonetheless.

They also have an 85.8% pass completion rate, which is the second worst of his comparison. But that obviously doesn’t matter to them, as they still find the back of the net better than anyone.

2. Manchester City - 7.08

England’s best comes up short on the list, despite the strength we see from them almost every week in the Premier League.

City are obviously the only team on the list to make the Champions League final last season. They did lose, but they still did better than the rest here.

Statistically, City perform very close to what is expected of them. Their 55 goals scored is only 3.5 goals more than their xG, and their xGA of 16 is only two off of their actual total of only 14 goals scored this campaign.

All the stats point towards a very solid and dominant team: the highest possession percentage from the list with 67.3%; a pass completion success rate of 89.9%, which is second highest; and the lowest fouls per game rate shows a well-disciplined side.

Well, fairly well-disciplined. The 30 yellow cards and one red card might be the only reason why they don’t rank at the top.

1. Ajax - 7.19

You can try to diminish what Ajax have been able to do this year or downplay the strength of the Dutch league, but we'll let you in on a little secret: if this list was ranked by who had the highest score in the Champions League this season so far, Ajax would still be number one.

Ajax have an absolutely ludicrous goal difference of 59 in the Eredivisie, scoring 64 goals and only conceding five in 21 games played. That is a rate of 3.05 goals scored a game to 0.24 goals conceded per game. No one else comes even remotely close to either of those averages.

Let's also not forget, they managed to go through the Champions League group stage with a perfect six games played, six games won, just like Bayern and Liverpool did. Rule them out at your peril.