Marcelo Brozovic – Introduction :
From Premier League winner to Balon D’or winner to La Liga Champions and UCL winners , Croatia is home to many of the world’s finest footballers. Players like Kovačić, Lovern and Modric have been an important part, winning titles after titles.
Inter Milan made a risky signing when they got Brozović in 2015. Brozović’s passing range and his endless running with and off the ball earned him a second life at Inter Milan. Brozović joins as Europe’s top defensive midfielder and he has been performing constantly for many years.
Brozovic’s main position is Defensive midfielder, but he can very well play as an Attacking Midfielder and a central midfielder.
He has scored 20 goals over 221 matches he played, spanning from 2014–2021.
An analysis using Football Analytics :
Marcelo Brozovic – Goal scoring and Passing :
Brozovic is important cog to Inter, he links between defense and attack. He plays a major role in team’s build up play from deep.
He is a good passer as he boasts having a 97 percentile in the amount of passes which he has completed. It takes his pass completion percentage to a whopping 96 percentile, having a rank of 91% per 90.
With Brozović on the ball, he’d look to switch the ball long to the flanks or attempt to break the lines, often finding his midfield partners higher up the pitch.
Marcelo Brozović is essentially Inter’s ready go to man in possession and is constantly seen running towards the ball, expecting a return at every opportunity he gets. It is sign of a top midfielder.
Ball Progression :
Brozović knows how to hold on to ball in tight situation. He does everything to make sure he does not get dispossessed easily.
When compared against other central midfielders from the Top 5 Leagues, Brozović also ranks highly in the number of Progressive Passes he makes in a game.
He makes 7.06 Progressive Passes, which supports his tendencies to move the ball forward at every opportunity. Hence, when it comes to progression, Brozović doesn’t give away the ball.
As we dive deeper into Brozovic’s passing and crossing into the final third and penalty area,he accomplishes 7.81 per 90 into the final third. He is a good crosser into the penalty area accomplishing 0.22 per 90.
Brozovic usually finds his target man, achieving 67.50 per 90, having a percentile of 95, where a player successfully received a pass from him.
Marcelo Brozovic – Inter Milan vs Parma Calcio :
I have analyzed a game between Inter and Parma, where he scored 1 goal.
He had a total 34 passes which he completed out of which 10 were short, 13 were medium and 11 were long passes which he had completed. Brozovic had created 5 progressive passes, out of which 2 were key passes, although he had 0 assists to his name. He had a pass success of 94%.
Progressive Passes :
Pass Clusters :
From the above pass clusters we can see where Brozovic sprayed his passes and his progressive passes.
From the above team heatmap against Parma, we can see that Brozovic had a total of 53% touches. He ranks 41% in number of carry he made, out of which only 6% were progressive.
He had a total of 46 touches, in which most of his touches were in the attacking third.
Defensive Football Analytics :
Going over his defensive duties, we can see that he recovered the ball in the middle of the park, in the opposition attacking third and in the defensive third.
He had 1 tackle to his name in the defensive third out of which he won that tackle.
From the below heatmap we can see that he had applied pressure to the opponent, who was carrying , receiving or releasing the ball out of which he had 3 succesful pressure,taking his tally to 75%.
Brozovic came as a substitute and was able to impact the game, with him notching 1 goal and having successfully completed the passes with 94%.
Marcelo Brozovic – Conclusion :
From the below dashboard, we can see that he ranks high in offensive duties. He has been a central cog in the Inter team for almost 8 years. His contribution to the team has been very immense.
Brozovic’s current deal with Inter is due to expire at the end of June, and a recent report claimed that Barcelona are determined to sign him on a free transfer.
However, Marotta has insisted that the Croatia international is keen to extend his stay with the Black and Blues, with the club hoping “to sign the paperworks quickly”. Only a summer transfer will tell whether he signs a new contract or goes in search of greener pastures.
In this article football analytics has been used in order to breakdown the game of Marcelo Brozovic. If you wish to breakdown the game of football or any football player then we at Mad About Sports have the best football analytics resources for you. To learn all about our football analytics course visit the link below.
