Manchester City vs Monaco and Europe’s most clinical performances this season
It’s fair to say that the Champions League went a bit nuts on Tuesday night, with 14 goals scored across two memorable matches. While Bayer Leverkusen’s clash with Atletico defied the odds with the bookmakers, who seemed certain of a low scoring affair (even if we didn't), Monaco’s visit to Manchester was tipped to be the opposite, and certainly didn’t disappoint in that regard.
The Ligue 1 leaders are the top scorers in Europe’s top 5 leagues after all, so it should have been little surprise when the French outfit came from behind to take a lead into half-time. It was, however, a masterclass in finishing from the hosts that eventually secured a 5-3 victory for Pep Guardiola’s side, but where does City’s performance rank among the most ruthless in Europe this season?
Well, in terms of teams to have scored four or more goals in a game, it’s equal ninth across Europe’s top 5 leagues, the Champions and Europa League. The following are ranked first on conversion rate, then in the event of a tie on goals scored before shot accuracy if required.
City’s five-goal haul came courtesy of just ten shots (50% conversion) and a 60% shot accuracy. Stones’ strike came from his only shot of the game to give City a second half lead, while Sterling, Sane and Aguero all scored with half of their attempts, meaning Yaya Toure was the only home player to have a shot without scoring.
Their overall shot figures were identical to Borussia Dortmund when they hit Hamburg for five in November, again doing so from just 10 shots - four fewer than their hosts on the day. Calamitous defending was HSV’s undoing, and allowed for Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang to score four goals from just five shots before teeing up substitute Ousmane Dembele for BVB’s fifth.
In eighth by virtue of a greater shot accuracy (70%), Barcelona also scored five past Leganes back in September despite mustering five shots fewer (10) than their hosts. Messi bagged a brace from 6 attempts, while both Rafinha and Suarez scored with their only shots at goal in what looks a comfortable win on paper but in reality was far less so.
Another supreme show of ruthlessness from this week ranks seventh, with Pescara winning their first game all season in Serie A in remarkable fashion against Genoa. Having only taken the reins in the week, renowned attacking coach Zdenek Zeman masterminded a 5-0 victory that ultimately saw opposite number Ivan Juric lose his job. Their haul came from just 8 shots, though one of the five was an own goal, leaving a conversion rate of 50%. The front three of Caprari (2), Cerri and Benali all scored having been the only players to muster a shot for the hosts.
It’s Dortmund again in sixth, again scoring five from ten shots against Wolfsburg in September, hitting the target all but once. Aubameyang (twice) and Dembele were on the scoresheet once more, with the latter the only BVB player to have a shot that didn’t test Koen Casteels in the hosts' goal, with Wolfsburg scoring just once from 16 shots and an identical number on target (9) by comparison.
There’s a tie for fourth, and the fact that free-scoring Monaco and Napoli make the leaderboard is little shock. The former ran riot at Metz back in October, with six different scorers in a 7-0 away win. That came despite having the same number of shots as their hosts (14), hitting the target nine times to Metz’s 2, with goalscorer Thomas Lemar the only one of nine players to fail to score with more than one shot.
Napoli, meanwhile, won 7-1 away at Bologna earlier this month in a game that had everything. The visitors were reduced to ten men before an Adam Masina red card levelled the playing field minutes later, while Pepe Reina produced a penalty save for Sarri’s side. Their seven goal haul came courtesy of hat-tricks from both Marek Hamsik and Dries Mertens and one from Lorenzo Insigne, with a modest total of 14 shots well below their season average (17.7) and three fewer than a Bologna side on the end of a six-goal deficit!
It’s a third appearance in the top ten for Dortmund in third, who are the only side to have been more clinical in a Champions League game than Manchester City this season. Tuchel’s side were in sensational goalscoring form in a game that made Tuesday’s encounters seem pretty ordinary in terms of results, coming from behind to beat Legia Warszawa 8-4. They had 16 shots on the night but with just nine on target, opposing goalkeeper Radoslaw Cierzniak had a game to forget, only managing to deny a shot from Christian Pulisic, meaning Dortmund’s five scorers all found the net with each of their shots on target.
Tied for the lead, however, despite scoring half the number of goals as die Schwarzgelben back in November, are Las Palmas and Everton due to a superior conversion rate. Both teams scored four goals from just 6 shots in total and failed to have a single shot saved in encounters from August and January respectively.
The Spanish outfit came from behind to put Valencia to the sword, winning 4-2 despite having almost a third of the shots as their hosts (17). Mat Ryan was powerless to keep out Las Palmas’ four efforts on target in what was a season opener for the two sides, though one of those was from the penalty spot from visiting captain Jonathan Viera.
For that reason we’ve chosen Everton’s shock 4-0 win over Tuesday night’s victors Manchester City as the most clinical in Europe this season. The Toffees put all four of their shots on target past Claudio Bravo, with goals from teenagers Tom Davies and Ademola Lookman stealing the show last month. It left Guardiola ruing his side’s poor finishing having had over twice as many efforts at goal (13) and more attempts on target whilst failing to find a way past Joel Robles.
