The two finalists of the Champions League, Arsenal and FC Barcelona, have the best statistics going into the final in Paris on Wedensday, 17th of May but for very different reasons.

FC Barcelona have scored by far the most goals to date, whilst Arsenal have the best defence of the Champions League campaign this year.


FC Barcelona's attacking football has produced a lot of goals in this Champions League campaign and has made them the top of the goalscoring table:
Barca scored 22 times in 12 matches with an average of 1.83 goals per game. Next in the top scorer ranking is AC Milan (20 goals), then Olympic Lyon (19), Juventus (16) and Inter, Arsenal (14) - 1.166 gpg.

Barca's individual top scorers so far have been Ronaldinho (7) and Samuel Eto'o (5) who together produced over 50% of all Barca goals and scored nearly as many goals than the entire Arsenal team during the CL campaign.


Arsenal, also known for attacking football, surprisingly scored only 14 goals during the entire campain. But this Champions League season it has been the defence that have carried the Gunners through to the final of Europe's most important Club tournament.
In 12 games they only have conceded 2 goals in the group stages (0.1666gpg) and none in the second round. Neither Real Madrid, Juventus nor Villarreal were able to score against Arsenal and German international goal keeper, Jens Lehmann kept a clean sheet in each 180 minutes. Arsenal´s average stands at 0.17 goals conceded per game.

Follow up:

But Barca are also doing well in this defence statistics having conceded only 4 goals (average of 0.33 per game). Next in this table are Villarreal, Benfica and Lyon, all with 7 goals conceded, then Inter (8), Milan (10) and Juventus (11).


Barca have the edge over Arsenal in the attacking department. In addition to the goal scored superiority (22 to 14), they also have had more shots on goal: 90 shots with an average of 7.5 per match (Arsenal: 68 with an average of 5.67 per match).

For FC Barcelona 59 shots have been on target with an avarage of 4.92 per match. Arsenal's targetted the goal 45 times (average 3.75 per match).
Arsenal have won more corners, 64 (Arsenal) to 60 (FC Barcelona) but have been offside 33 (Arsenal) and Barca only 22 times.


FC Barcelona is comfortably ahead in terms of possession of the ball.


It will be interesting to see who will have the upperhand on Wednesday, the best defence or the best attack.


There's one record that will definitely be broken: Both teams did not lose during the entire CL campaign but there will be only one winner and definetely one loser after the final.


Statistics are interesting to read but each match writes its own story. FC Barcelona Blog will keep you updated with the statistics on Thursday, regardless of who will win the final.