What are “Scoring Opportunities”?

FOOTBALL – The Guardian’s analysis of Leicester City’s surprise season included a reference to scoring opportunities, one of the numerous variables that we at Infostrada Sports collect in our live coverage of football matches around the world. As explained in the article, this is a measure which counts major chances whether they result in a shot or not. Calculating the difference between scoring opportunities for and against produces a measure which is highly correlated with the league table standings. Below are some examples of goal attempts which would be classified as scoring opportunities.

REVIEW: Hat-trick hero Cristiano strikes again

FOOTBALL – Cristiano Ronaldo registered his third career hat-trick for Portugal and the 35th of his career in an official match, propelling Portugal past Armenia on Saturday. It was the third consecutive hat-trick in official matches for Cristiano Ronaldo. He also netted three in league games against RCD Espanyol (17 May) and Getafe CF (23 May). He had not played an official match since 23 May. It is the first time in his career he has performed the three square performance (3×3).

REVIEW: Messi & Ronaldo and the German connection

FOOTBALL – Lionel Messi scored twice for Barcelona in their 3-0 win against Bayern Munchen to reach a total of 14 CL goals against German teams, equal as many as Cristiano Ronaldo. Check out more below.

ANALYSE THIS: A Statistical Breakdown Of El Clásico (update)

FOOTBALL – On Sunday 22 March Real Madrid and FC Barcelona will go head-to-head in the 230th edition of El Clásico. In the week before the last clash between these archrivals (25 October) we posted a statistical analysis discussing several numbers on this match. We have updated this analysis with the performances of the teams in current season and added a brand new piece of analysis at the end.

BREAKING: Bueno scores hat-trick which is ‘perfect’ AND ‘flawless’

FOOTBALL – Rayo Vallecano’s Alberto Bueno scored four goals in a first half outburst against Levante UD on Saturday. Bueno’s hat-trick enters the record books as both ‘flawless’ and ‘perfect’.

REVIEW: Madrid derby by the numbers

FOOTBALL – Atlético Madrid beat crosstown rivals Real Madrid 4-0 in La Liga on Saturday, their biggest win against Real since 7 November 1987 when they won 4-0 at Real in the league. Click on the continue reading button to see a breakdown of statistics of this Madrid derby.

INFOGRAPHIC: Matadors of Madrid

FOOTBALL – Cristiano Ronaldo is two goals shy of equalling Alfredo Di Stéfano as all-time top scorer in the Madrid derby. Check out our infographic here.

BREAKING: Cristiano Ronaldo collects third career Ballon d’Or

FOOTBALL –  Cristiano Ronaldo picked up the FIFA Ballon d’Or for 2014, the year for which he was voted the best football player in the world.  Ronaldo had also won the award in 2008 and last year.
He is the fifth player to have won it on at least three occasions and joins Johan Cruijff, Michel Platini and Marco van Basten on three. Only Lionel Messi has won it more often (four times).

REVIEW: Ronaldo’s home run ends

FOOTBALL – Cristiano Ronaldo’s scoring run of netting in 17 Liga home matches in a row came to and in Real Madrid’s 3-0 home win against Espanyol.

REVIEW: Cristiano Ronaldo’s record breaking evening

FOOTBALL – On 6 December, Real Madrid beat Celta de Vigo 3-0 in La Liga to record their 18th successive win in all competitions. Cristiano Ronaldo scored all three goals for Madrid which resulted in a historic evening for the Portuguese football player.