Our best attacking statistics in 2021/22
Christopher Nkunku the complete all-rounder | Kevin Kampl’s passing shines | Angeliño one of the league’s best crossers
The 2021/22 season is over, and RB Leipzig put on some memorable performances, even finishing as the Bundesliga’s best team in the second half of the season. The stats back up just how spectacularly Domenico Tedesco’s team played: we’ve summarised the best attacking statistics from our 2021/22 Bundesliga season for you here.
Nkunku the all-rounder
The fact that Christopher Nkunku has had an unbelievable season is no secret. No Bundesliga player is ranked in the upper echelons of as many statistic leaderboards as our French superstar. His 20 goals and 15 assists in 2021/22 means he had the second-most goal involvements of any player, behind Robert Lewandowski – he is also one of just two players to hit double figures for both goals and assists. The other: former PSG teammate Moussa Diaby (13 goals, 12 assists).
It's no coincidence, then, that Nkunku was directly involved in a total of 170 shots on goal, either as provider or shot-taker. Only Lewandowski and Frankfurt’s Filip Kostic have been involved in more. The 21 “big chances” has has created, often on his own, is the second-most in the league. He took 57% of those chances – in comparison, the man with most big chances, Lewandowski, took 53% of them. Christo’s efficiency in front of goal can also be seen through his expected goals stats: he has scored 3.1 goals more than his xG value expected him to score, putting him in the top 10 overperforming players in the Bundesliga.
RBL have proved to be one of the most efficient attacking sides this season. Our team has averaged a goal every 6.0 shots, the second-best ratio behind Borussia Dortmund (5.6 shots per goal). Christo is the cream of the crop in this regard too: the 24-year-old found the net 20 times from just 81 shots, making it almost exactly a goal every four attempts!
The top-class stats for the Bundesliga’s Player of the Season don’t stop there, though. One of Nkunku’s best traits is his fast dribbling: he made 906 sprints this season, the fifth-most of all players. 635 of those runs were with the ball at his feet; only Hoffenheim’s Andrej Kramaric completed more. In total, Christo sprinted 13.1 kilometres in matches this season, a fantastic feat bettered only by Mainz’s Jonathan Burkardt.
Counter attacks the recipe for success
The fact that Nkunku has completed 71.7% of his dribbles attempted this season underlines just how much of a game changer he is. Of all Bundesliga players with at least 50 dribbles completed, only Gladbach’s Manu Kone and Bayern’s Alphonso Davies have been more successful. Domenico Tedesco has really recognised this as a weapon to use in his game plans, and it has really paid off! Before Tedesco’s arrival, RBL had only scored once from a counter attack; by the end of the season, they had scored 14 goals that way, the most in the league! Five of those were scored by dribbling sensation Nkunku, another second-best for him this season, behind Dortmund’s Julian Brandt (6). Our attacking maestro quite literally couldn’t be stopped this season: he was fouled by an opponent 61 times in 2021/22, making him the most-fouled player of the season.
Pass-master Kampl, King of the cross Angeliño
Of course, Nkunku did not bring about his or the club’s success this season on his own; there have been a whole host of other players in the mix. Alongside Christo, Kevin Kampl has shone as a passer of the ball in build-up play. His 678 successful passes in the opposition half shows just how valuable he has been to the team, and places him in the league-wide top ten of players in this category, alongside Nkunku, who played 650 successful passes in the attacking half.
Angeliño’s strength is his crosses from the left hand side. His 115 crosses into the penalty area is the third-most of any player, behind Hoffenheim’s David Raum and Eintracht’s Filip Kostic. With that said, though, the Spanish left-back has played a lot less than the two ahead of him. Five of his crosses have led to a goal.
Set-pieces and long-range shots: Szoboszlai with the most attempts
Angeliño is one of the set-piece experts in the team, alongside Nkunku and Dominik Szoboszlai. Free-kicks have been a real weapon for RBL this season, scoring a total of eight, the second-most of any Bundesliga side behind SC Freiburg. Szoboszlai has also been a great assist provider, setting up eight goals in his first Bundesliga campaign. That makes him the second best RBL provider, and one of the best in the whole league.
When a defence is sitting deep, a shot from long range can help break them down. RB Leipzig scored the most goals from outside the penalty area last season, with 11. No player took more shots from long-range than Szoboszlai (25), but his reward came on just the second matchday with a sensational goal against VfB Stuttgart. No player scored more from outside the area than Cristopher Nkunku, who found the net three times, whilst both Dani Olmo and Konrad Laimer are part of a group of just 19 Bundesliga players to score twice from range in 2021/22.
Last but not least, we have to mention André Silva. He netted his 43rd Bundesliga goal on matchday 13, becoming the top-scoring Portuguese player in Bundesliga history. He has stretched this record to 51 goals over the course of the campaign.