Europa League stats dive: high achievers of Matchday 6
Friday, December 10, 2021
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Who made the most saves, crosses, clearances, ball recoveries and completed passes this week?
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UEFA.com has a treasure trove of statistics covering many aspects of play to enhance the UEFA Europa League.
In this piece, presented by Swissquote, we sift through the Matchday 6 data to pick out the stand-out displays.
Most passes completed
108: William Saliba (Marseille)
92: Érick Gutiérrez (PSV)
92: Luiz Felipe (Lazio)
91: Francesco Acerbi (Lazio)
90: Makoto Hasebe (Frankfurt)
A 1-0 Group E win over Lokomotiv Moskva was enough to earn Marseille a place in the UEFA Europa Conference League play-offs draw, with defender William Saliba once more a crucial performer, 94% of his 115 passes finding their target. "We’re satisfied after the disappointment of going out of the Europa League," said the 20-year-old Arsenal loanee. "We’ll try to go as far as possible in this new competition and give it everything.”
Crosses completed
5: Ricardo Horta (Braga)
4: Filip Kostić (Frankfurt)
4: Cengiz Ünder (Marseille)
4: Rayan Cherki (Lyon)
Braga just about held on to second place in Group F as they drew 1-1 with section-toppers Crvena zvezda on the final day, while third-ranked Midtjylland could only draw at Ludogorets. Ricardo Horta had no hand in the Arsenalistas' goal, which came from a penalty following a handball at a corner, but he found a team-mate with five crosses on Matchday 6 – once more than any other player.
Balls recovered
14: Andreas Maxsø (Brøndby)
13: Adnan Kovačević (Ferencváros)
12: Serdar Aziz (Fenerbahçe)
12: David Pavelka (Sparta Praha)
Brøndby's campaign concluded with a 2-0 Group A reversal at Sparta Praha, who benefited rather more from David Pavelka's 12 ball recoveries than their guests did from Andreas Maxsø's 14 interventions. Ferencváros signed off with their first win in Group G, Adnan Kovačević's efforts helping them to a 1-0 success over Leverkusen.
Clearances
12: Igor Plastun (Ludogorets)
10: Olivier Verdon (Ludogorets)
11: Georgi Dzhikiya (Betis)
9: Aleksandar Dragović (Midtjylland)
9: Martin Moormann (Rapid Wien)
Ludogorets finished their Group F campaign as they had started, with a draw against Midtjylland, but the 0-0 scoreline rather undersells the work the Bulgarian side had to put in. Chasing a place in the knockout phase play-offs, the Danish team had 17 shots on goal including two against the woodwork, centre-backs Igor Plastun and Olivier Verdon helping to register a clean sheet in trying circumstances.
Most saves
7: Sergio Padt (Ludogorets)
7: Tomáš Vaclík (Olympiacos)
6: Scott Bain (Celtic)
6: Milan Borjan (Crvena zvezda)
5: Radosław Majecki (Monaco)
5: Mads Hermansen (Brøndby)
The frame of his goal rescued Sergio Padt twice but he earned his luck with seven saves in Ludogorets' valedictory stalemate with Midtjylland. Tomáš Vaclík, meanwhile, conceded in the first ten minutes of Olympiacos' game at eliminated Antwerp, but kept the Belgian outfit at bay thereafter.