How Stats Zone analysed Bayern's win over Dortmund

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FourFourTwo covered the Champions League final live using ouraward-winning FREE app with rapid updates from the Stats Zone Twitter account. Here's a sample of what we found...  

Six minutes in, @StatsZone tweeted that the pattern had been set, with Bayern putting together more passes...

...but despite Bayern's busier passing, Dortmund were having more joy in the final third.

But by 27 minutes, Bayern had found their man with their first corner â typical of their better efficiency from wide areas.

Indeed, 10 minutes later Bayern had found their man with all 3 of their corners, compared to Dortmund's 0 from 5.

By half-time Bayern, who hadn't had a shot at all in the first 24 minutes while Dortmund rained in 6 shots (4 on target), had drawn level with their rivals on 7 shots each...

The tackles screen showed the two sides' differing areas of concern. Dortmund had won 10 out of 11, mainly on the right of their defence to counter Franck Ribery; Bayern had won 8 of 13, mainly in front of their penalty area where Reus was impressing.

In fact, Reus had created as many first-half chances (4) as Bayern's whole team.

...and the Bavarians duly went in front just before the hour after Ribery and Arjen Robben combined deep in Dortmund territory to tee up Mario Mandzukic. As @OptaJoe tweeted, Bayern had led in 40 Bundesliga or Champions League games this season, and had won 38 of them â drawing the other two. Was it all over?

Certainly Dortmund needed to up their game. In the first 16 minutes of the second half, Bayern had 3 shots â all on target â while BVB didn't register a single attempt.

And then Dante's rash tackle gifted Dortmund a 67th-minute penalty, which Ilkay Gundogan duly converted.

An excellent final ebbed and flowed, but Bayern still looked to be on the front foot. On 79 minutes it was clear by analysing Dortmund's interceptions â they were deeper and more often than in the first half.

Bayern had cunningly changed their style in the second half. As @JamesArsenal1 noted, before the hour mark â when they scored â they had played 112 passes backwards, tempting Dortmund to press them higher up the pitch; in the last half-hour they only played 23 as their opponents tired.

...and they also had more passes in the attacking third, despite Dortmund's impressively efficient first half...

...which only emphasises Bayern's second-half domination in that respect, completing twice as many passes in their opponents' danger zone.

Robben, Bastian Schweinsteiger and Philipp Lahm each completed 13 passes in the attacking third; Reus, who had led the way for Dortmund in the first half, finished his team's best top-end passer on 11.

With 65 completions from 76 attempts, Schweinsteiger was the top passer, ranging all over the pitch as necessary â virtually on his centre-backs' toes in the first half, but increasingly influential in the second. Bayern had the top five passers, with Gundogan leading Dortmund's list.

Bayern's twin terrors Robben and Ribery attempted 21 dribbles during the game. They only completed 5, but they were probably spared the wrath of Jupp Heynckes.

And don't forget, when your team gets linked this summer with someone you've never heard of, that you can use Stats Zone to access this season's data from the top flights in Germany, Spain and Italy â as well as the last three seasons of the Premier League and Champions League...

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