In the first leg of the UEFA Champions League quarter-finals, Manchester City, managed by Pep Guardiola, lost 0-3 away to Real Madrid. The result was difficult, but this match was particularly noteworthy for us: our compatriot Abdukodir Khusanov started the game in the starting lineup and played the full 90 minutes.
In such a high-pressure collision in Madrid, every little detail is important for the defender: ball handling, passing accuracy, position selection, clean-ups, and closing the paths for passes. Khusanov also performed similar "invisible but difficult" tasks. His statistics also show this: he was more with the ball, almost never made mistakes in passes, and helped his team in several important episodes in defense.
Below are the results of Abdukodir Khusanov in this match:
Overall indicators
- Time on the field: 90 minutes
- Accurate passes: 86/91 (95%)
- Created opportunities: 0
- Shots: 0
Offensive actions
- Touches: 105
- Passes to the third zone: 13.
- Accurate long passes: 0/1 (0%)
- Loss of ball: 2
Defense work
- Picking the ball (invitation): 1
- Clearances: 4
- Lower cutting: 4
- Reclaiming the ball: 1.
Duels
- Duels on the ground: 2/5 (40%)
- Air Duels: 0/0
- The rule was violated against him: 1.
- Fouls: 0
Based on the indicators, Khusanov was mainly useful today in "safe passing" and "reading the passing path." 105 touches and a 95 percent accurate pass is a very high level for a defender, especially at Bernabeu. Clearances and pass cuts also indicate that he tried to read the game in defense.
Of course, after the 0:3 defeat, any defender will have many questions. But such evenings prepare the player for big games: pressure, tempo, the cost of mistakes - everything trains in "real time." Now, in the second leg, both City and Khusanov face another major challenge: correcting shortcomings and redirecting the game to a different scenario.
Read “Zamin” on Telegram!
