One of our favourite ways to kill time in the app is our Player vs. Player comparison tool.
Just head to a player profile, click on the avatar in the top right, select any other player in the world and build up a picture of their form.
Whenever we check in on Serie A this season, two names have dominated the leader boards run for our individual player stats, Lazio’s Ciro Immobile and the Juventus superstar, Cristiano Ronaldo.
For two forwards, who for all intents and purposes play differing roles for their sides – their stats, as both the main threat and the talisman of their respective teams are fairly consistent.
Immobile has played more games, and scored more goals but if we look at the average minutes played per goal – Ronaldo isn’t far behind that gold standard, goal-a-game ratio.
And if we break that down further – Ronaldo has actually taken more shots than Immobile, despite spending fewer minutes on the pitch.
The accuracy of those attempts is where we can start to foresee some differences, with Ronaldo playing a less central role in Juve’s typical formation so it’s perhaps surprising that he comes out so close to Immobile’s 60%.
When we break things down a little further we can see more similarities. Both players for instance, have scored the overwhelming majority of their goals inside the 18-yard box and with their favoured right foot.
Ronaldo’s complete lack of successful long-range efforts would reflect a season in which his usual magical touch at dead ball situations has seemed to leave him.
One thing that will probably never change though, however long Ronaldo remains at the very top of the game, is his willingness to shoot.
He leads the way in terms of shots directly on goal per match, but if you look at this stat slightly differently – Immobile actually scores his goals with a greater efficiency.
For his overall contribution to Juventus matches, we have awarded Ronaldo a higher average rating across the season. Meaning that the combination of all the live statistics we gather together shows him to have a greater impact on proceedings for his side.
So where does all that leave us, at this strange limbo stage in Italian football where the very region worst hit by the spread of the coronavirus pandemic is home to so many of the top teams?
Immobile and Ronaldo are clearly the best players of the 2019/20 Serie A season to date, and with their sides separated by just a point in the league table and under normal circumstances – we all would have wanted to see how that played out.
For you own deep dive in to our Serie A stats, or those for any league – just search for a league and from the profile, swipe right for the stats tab.
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