3 stats from Juventus 3-1 Real Madrid

Real Madrid fell to defeat against Juventus at the Camping World Stadium in a 3-1 loss which did not reflect the play as Carlo Ancelotti’s side took scant reward for a strong display due to defensive flaws and mistakes.

Moise Kean gave the Italians an early lead and Timothy Weah added to make it 2-0 inside 20 minutes, and despite Vinícius Júnior pulling one back before half-time after a neat Toni Kroos assist, Dušan Vlahović added a third for Juve in injury time.

Here are three stats that help to understand the game.

2.9%: Real Madrid’s shot to goal conversion rate, with 34 shots leading to one goal

In the last two friendlies, Real Madrid have registered a whopping total of 63 shots on goal, but only scored once. Against Juventus, the team surpassed the figure recorded against Barcelona and climbed up to a total of 34 shots, one every 2 minutes and 39 seconds on average, but only eight of those were on target and only one ended with a goal.

What is worrying is that the second half, including when Vinícius Júnior and Rodrygo Goes were in attack together for a period, only one out of 13 shots were on target, with an accuracy of 7.7%. Neither Joselu, nor Rodrygo, registered a shot on target. Vini accounted for three of the eight attempts on target, with Jude Bellingham and Antonio Rüdiger having another two each, and Nacho firing on target once.

In addition, while Juventus scored two goals from within the six-yard box, Real Madrid failed to register a single attempt on goal in that space. In fact, 15 (44.1%) of all shots came between the 18 and 25 yards out. Of those, only one was on target as Nacho hit an effort straight at Wojciech Szczęsny.

Again, the opposition were far more clinical, as Juventus scored three goals from 11 shots and six on target. Just as against Barcelona, Real Madrid dominated play, possession and territory, but struggled to break down that dominance into a result.

48: Seconds before Moise Kean gave Juventus the lead

There was a lively start to this game as it took Juventus just 48 seconds to find the back of the net and take the lead thanks to some catastrophic defending from the Real Madrid back line within the first minute of action. Just like against Milan, Real Madrid conceded two in the first half and made their own task more difficult.

Equally, Dušan Vlahović scored with only seconds left on the clock. That repeated a similar trend to the Barcelona match where the Catalans scored two goals on 85 and 91 minutes.

It reflected a lack of concentration which gave Juventus a series of high quality chances. While Real Madrid’s average shot distance was outside the box, Juventus scored three goals within eight yards of the goalposts. Such high-quality chances were also going to make it difficult for Thibaut Courtois to stop any of the Juve chances.

“I think the defence can be improved with focus and good attitude. We could play a lower block, that’s an option we have to keep in mind,” Carlo Ancelotti said, speaking post-match, and that ties in with this.

5: Key passes from Toni Kroos

The changes in midfield have meant that the diamond shape has changed many roles in the middle of the park, in particular in defining who will play in the holding number six role.

Through much of the campaign, it has been Aurelién Tchouaméni who has featured there and the Frenchman has excelled. He started against Manchester United and Barcelona and stood out as one of the team’s better players on both occasions.

Against Juve, Toni Kroos returned to the starting line-up, as he was against Milan in the first preseason fixture, and showed the quality that he has. In total, he recorded 96.5% passing accuracy from 82 attempts, including five key passes, most importantly providing the assist for Vinícius’ goal.

Of his passing, nine out of 10 long balls reached their target too, helping to set him apart from Tchouaméni, whose passing range has been more limited. He also won three of five duels in total, showing his ability to break up play.

The consequence of the German’s strong display here is that Ancelotti now faces a headache ahead of his next selection choice for the season opener against Athletic Club.