As you know by now this website has become a home for all things shot efficiency and earlier in the week I extended the project by taking a look at who things have panned out after Matchday 4, that gave us a neat snapshot but now it is time to look into the data once more as we see what changes there have been after Matchday 5.

Once again thanks to whoscored.com for all the necessary data.

Here is the Champions League shot efficiency rankings after Matchday 5

So here are the 32 teams ranked from top to bottom – what I will do now is split these into two graphs of 16 teams each as a full graph would be a little cumbersome to digest.

Champions League Top 16

It once again comes as no real surprise that PSG top this chart but when you look at the amount of shots required before scoring a goal, it is nothing short of phenomenal. They require just an average of 3.6 shots before scoring in this competition.

They have scored 24 goals in just five matches making them the highest ever scorers in the group stage with a game to spare, they are averaging 4.8 goals per game. Critics will say that they scored 12 of their goals against Celtic but even if you remove those figures they still average 4 goals a game.

Which ever way you want to look at their numbers are almost super human, it’s not just this competition either as when you add all the goals up between the Champions League and Ligue 1 they have scored 67 goals – an average of 3.72 per game.

Without turning this into a PSG love in, we can take a look at some of the other teams that have made the top 16 graph. Besiktas stay second after their economical 45 shots have warranted nine goals in five matches, an average of 1.8 per game.

While Tottenham’s win over Borussia Dortmund last week sees them keep hold of third place with their shots to goals ratio moving out to 5.2 from 5.0, they head up an English dominated next section with third to sixth place all held by Premier League outfits.

Chelsea now find themselves as the fourth most efficient team in the Champions League this season moving up from sixth, while Liverpool move up eight places after being just 13th after Matchday 4. Manchester City could only manage one goal against Feyenoord and that has seen them drop to sixth in the efficiency rankings.

Manchester United were dealt a blow by FC Basel last Wednesday, they only needed a point to secure top spot and came away from Switzerland with none. This subsequently sees them drop down to 14th in terms of the shot efficiency ranking and the worst of the Premier League teams.

We can now take a look at how the 32 teams rank in terms of shots after Matchday 5

As you can see Liverpool are still the top team in terms of chances created but they now have to share the mantle with Real Madrid with 102 efforts each. An average of 20.4 per game, while top scorers PSG have created just the fifth highest chances with 87.

Let’s see how that data plugs into the bottom half of the efficiency ranking after Matchday 5

There are some big names lurking in there with Bayern Munich and Barcelona at the top end of this lower 16 – even though they are in the second graph their shot to goals ratio is still relatively respectable, in the case of Bayern Munich they are creating 19.2 chances per game but are not scoring the goals to go with it.

They and Barcelona are suffering from a level of under performance in front of goal, while the same can be said for Atletico Madrid who are the fourth least efficient team in the Champions League this season which gives us some neat symmetry as they have created the fourth most chances after Matchday 5.

Diego Simeone’s men are creating 18.8 chances per game but are only averaging 0.8 goals at the same time, there is a massive disconnect here between what they can create and what they can put away, this is highlighted by the fact that they sit third in Group C with one game to go.

Celtic may well have been hit for seven by PSG but they are at least showing a decent shot efficiency as they require an average of 8.6 goals per game, this could arguably be skewed by the fact that they are creating fewer chances but they are at least sticking away the chances they make.

Last week it was Anderlecht who were rank bottom of the list due to the fact that they had not even scored a goal after four matches, they finally broke their duck against Bayern Munich and this sees them move off the bottom with, although it must be said that they have made 49 chances and only scored once.

However that is not the worst record in the competition as Benfica now plummet to the bottom, their solitary goal has come after a total of 65 shots, their efficiency is nothing short of woeful as they sit at the foot of Group A without a single point to their name.

That concludes this analysis I shall be back next month to wrap up the group stage of the competition when we look at what happened after Matchday 6. Until then.

I hope this was of interest to you and if you have any football data work available then please contact me at realfootballmanwordpress@gmail.com as I am always looking to undertake additional projects to the ones I already have. Thanks, Dan.