Liverpool, the most honest team in the Champions League semifinal

Summary

• Analysed the 4 semi-finals matches.
• 56 dives total, fortunately no material impact was caused by dives besides 3 yellow cards.
• Liverpool with only 4 dives, the most honest team this round.

Player analysis

After analysing the 4 Champions League semi-final matches we did a deep dive looking at player behavior, especially of those players scoring goals, and we discovered an interesting insight: half of the 12 strikers in these 4 matches did not engage in diving at all.

High praise and a big thank you to:

• Mohamed Salah,
• Roberto Firmino,
• Georginio Wijnaldum,
• Diego Perotti,
• Radja Nainggolan and
• Marco Asensio

for their generosity in playing a good game, scoring goals and doing it all with a high standard of honesty.

On the other side of the coin, It’s clear that diving is no longer a practice reserved for the forwards, 2 of the top 5 players with the most dives are defenders.

Team analysis

Even though all teams engaged in diving there was a clear difference in behavior as a team. Liverpool engaged in diving 4 times whereas Real Madrid did it 5 times more.

High praise to Liverpool too for being the most honest team in the semi finals round.

It’s interesting that the teams playing the final will be the one with the most dives (Real Madrid) vs the one with the least (Liverpool).

We’re looking forward to a game full of excitement, passion, good football and honesty.