Stats Discrepancies in UEFA Champions League Final 2011

The Stats In Nic James’s chapter “Performance Analysis in the Media” (2008), he states:

One example is from this year’s Champions League Final.  BBC Sport provided statistics to demonstrate Barcelona’s dominance over Manchester United (http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/13588273.stm).  Included in these statistics is a reference to UEFA about distance covered by Xavi (http://www.uefa.com/uefachampionsleague/matches/season=2011/live/index.html?matchday=13&day=1&match=2003352).  Comparing both statistics, there were some glaring discrepancies between the numbers.  One concerns Xavi.  BBC states he made 141/148 passes which relates to a 95% successful pass rate.  According to UEFA, Xavi made 124/136 passes which relates to a 91% successful pass rate.

Conclusion Differences can be due to different operational definitions (what is a pass attempt or successful pass?) and inter-operator reliability (is data the same between different analysts?).  Thus, clubs should use their own performance analysts.  You can delineate your own parameters and analyse performance indicators that is important to the club’s head coach.  

Personal Note As a Manchester United fan, I was hopeful they could overcome the odds and beat Barcelona.  But alas, they are currently the best team in the world and on that display I do wonder how Barcelona can ever lose a football match.  Well done to Barcelona and I believe Gary Lineker (http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/13532749.stm) is right in saying, they need to win a couple more Champions League Finals to be cemented as the best team ever.