Real Madrid’s stunning comeback against Roma last week was in large part thanks to three crosses from Arda Güler — two of which were from corner kicks that ended as assists for the Turkish phenom. What many may not yet realize is that despite not having a traditional target man in the ‘nine’ role or a dominant aerial presence in its starting forward line, Real Madrid this season sits fourth in La Liga in successful crosses, completing 4.2 crosses per match. That is the highest average of successful crosses for the merengues
since the 2020/2021 season when Zinedine Zidane’s team averaged 4.5 completed crosses per match. And it is Madrid’s highest ranking in successful crosses in La Liga since the team led the Spanish first division in the 2016/2017 season and finished third in the 2017/2018 season when Cristiano Ronaldo, Karim Benzema and Gareth Bale still roamed inside the Bernabéu to get onto crosses from the likes of Toni Kroos, Marcelo and Dani Carvajal.
What is especially impressive is Madrid’s 27.3% accuracy with crosses this season — the best percentage for los blancos in at least the last 11 seasons in La Liga as shown below:
A big part of that success is due to Güler who leads La Liga with 17 successful crosses, which is four more than any other player in the Spanish first division. Nine of those crosses came via corner kicks.
Güler is one of 24 players in La Liga that has attempted 25+ crosses. The other 23 players are averaging a 26.7% success rate led by Osasuna’s Rubén García at 38.7% (12 of 31). That list includes Lamine Yamal at 28% (seven of 25). Güler is averaging an outstanding 53.1% (17 of 32) success rate completing crosses this season in Spain’ first division. Güler’s phenomenal accuracy with crosses may be one reason José Mourinho has preferred to play him wider than more centrally to start the season.
To give the Turkish midfielder’s 53.1% success rate more perspective, we looked at Toni Kroos’ last eight seasons at Real Madrid and found that the German maestro averaged 28.3% success crossing the ball, never finishing a season above 31.1%. Güler’s 17 successful crosses in nine matches so far this season are only three less than Kroos’s total in 28 league matches in the 2021/2022 season.
Nearly 87% (33 of 38) of Madrid’ successful crosses this season are attributable to three players: the aforementioned Güler (17), Trent Alexander-Arnold (nine, 33.3% success rate) and Yan Diomandé (seven, 36.8% success rate). Neither of Madrid’s starting fullbacks to open the season (Marc Cucurella and Denzel Dumfries) or its preferred right-back at the moment (Fede Valverde) have yet to deliver a successful cross in league play.
Also concerning is that Vinicius Jr has successfully completed only one of 19 crosses a putrid 5.3% rate, while Kylian Mbappé has yet to successfully complete any crosses in 11 attempts in La Liga this season. If you include Champions League play, Vinicius has completed only one of 22 crosses (4.5%) while Mbappé has completed one of 13 (7.7%) this season. As indicated below, Vinicius has never had a high percentage of success with crosses, even in years with Karim Benzema as striker. But this season represents a new low:
In Güler, Diomandé and Alexander-Arnold, Madrid possesses three world class crossers of the ball, albeit the Englishman is seeing limited playing time under Mourinho. It will be interesting to see if all three players share the pitch in certain situations this season, particularly when Carlos Espí comes into the match. It should be noted that defending crosses seems to be one vulnerability in Barcelona’s defense this season. Look for Madrid to exploit this through Güler and Diomandé in El Clásico.
