CHICAGO– May 30, 2019 – STATS, the revolutionary leader in sports AI, congratulates Liverpool on winning the Champions League title after a spectacular season. A large part of Liverpool’s Champions League success this year rested in the hands of Alisson Becker, their star goalkeeper. Liverpool paid a then-record $85 million fee for a goalkeeper to sign Alisson from Roma at the end of last season.
In advance of the final, ESPN previewed the Liverpool-Tottenham Hotspur match with the assistance of STATS AI Goalkeeper Index, which goes beyond traditional goalkeeper metrics to more meaningfully measure shot-stopping performance. This week, STATS followed that up by publishing on how Alisson’s tendencies decreased the likelihood of a goal on certain shots Liverpool faced in the final, ultimately resulting in a clean sheet for the Brazilian keeper and Liverpool’s first continental title since 2005.
With historical data, STATS is able to simulate various goalkeepers against every shot in a uniform sample rather than simply evaluating the shots each player faced individually. This is important because team tendencies make the scoring opportunities faced by certain keepers considerably different. The model then compares who would concede the fewest goals.
“Alisson was objectively the best keeper in the Premier League this year and a key component to Liverpool’s success with his remarkable saves,” STATS Chief Revenue Officer Steve Xeller said. “We can now quantify this better, illustrated by Alisson in this year’s Champions League final. Our first-of-its-kind model determines keepers’ specific skills, how they’re assessed and valued, using simulation data with AI. The data doesn’t lie.”
With this method, clubs can also compare all of the shots faced by two keepers and determine where one’s strengths lie compared to another. It can be used by coaches and recruitment departments to analyze keepers more effectively and objectively. For more information on the STATS Score Index, visit https://statsscoreindex.com/.