Late dominance and three penalties: BVB set new xG record against HSV | OneFootball

It’s not an official record that Borussia Dortmund’s team achieved in the match against Hamburger SV. After all, xG values are just one of many statistics collected around football, but not something truly relevant or countable like goals or assists. And yet, it is a unique figure that BVB achieved yesterday.

With a total of 6.24 xG in this match against HSV, BVB set a new record in the Bundesliga. No team has ever reached so many potential goals within 90 minutes since these data have been recorded. Which brings us to an important caveat that should not go unmentioned in light of this “record.”

xG values and similar statistics have only been tracked in the Bundesliga since the 2020/21 season. So, around 60 years of Bundesliga football that took place before then are not taken into account here. And it’s possible to score many goals and still not reach a particularly high xG value. It’s reasonable to assume that in matches where a team scored significantly more goals than the three BVB managed yesterday, the 6.24 xG mark would have been surpassed—if it had been recorded.

The most outstanding candidate for this would, of course, be the record victory of Borussia Mönchengladbach. In the spring of 1978, BMG won 12:0 at the Rheinstadion in Düsseldorf—against Borussia Dortmund. And two other hot candidates for a match with a higher xG value also involved BVB. In 1971, BVB lost 1:11 to FC Bayern Munich. In 1982, they won by the same score against Arminia Bielefeld.

Photo by Dean Mouhtaropoulos/Getty Images

Numerous Shots and Three Penalties Bring BVB the Record

The new record value achieved by BVB came about due to two aspects of the game. First, there were the three penalties awarded to BVB by referee Matthias Jöllenbeck, a first for the Black and Yellows in their Bundesliga history. These alone contribute a very high share to the total xG value. In addition, there was an incredibly dominant second half, especially considering the weak first half.

There were 15:0 shots on goal in that second half, which were counted at the end. BVB kept HSV pinned back again and again, creating a multitude of opportunities.

But the fact that the victory was so narrow and that, despite a new record of 6.24 xG, only three goals were scored—two of them from the penalty spot—is another story altogether.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇩🇪 here.