Pizzi, the pass master midfielder!

The opinions may differ, but the numbers are undeniable. Looking at the Liga NOS, Pizzi is the player with the most passes made– 1966. Of those, 1653 were accurate and 1044 were executed in the opposition's half. No player matches him in the last parameter – in fact, no one reaches a thousand passes and there are few players close to that milestone.

The influence on the game of the midfielder from Bragança é unquestionable and the numbers displayed on the site sofascore.com prove that. With 1966 total passes in the encounters of the Liga NOS in 2017/18, the 28-year-old international exceed all and any competition.

At Sport Lisboa e Benfica, in the ranking of passes made, he is followed by Fejsa, Cervi, Zivkovic and Salvio in the top 5. Looking at the other midfielders playing in the first division, Pizzi is unmatched when it comes to this item: Pelé (Rio Ave) comes in 2nd, with 1612, and Pedro Tiba (Chaves) round off the podium with 1541.

Since 2014/15 at Club, Pizzi has been growing and the collective has been benefiting from that. In the current season, the midfielder has featured in 30 matches in the Liga NOS, totaling 2438 minutes and five goals scored.

With 1653 accurate passes, the number 21 of Benfica is also the leader in this topic, and, most importantly, no one has more than a thousand accurate passes in the offensive half of the pitch: there are 1044, totaling an accuracy percentage of 84%, according to sofascore.com.

In this parameter it is Pedro Tiba who appears in the 2nd place (787), however, the Chaves midfielder has less 257 accurate passes than the impressive 1044 of the Eagles international!

In this analysis, it is worth highlighting that Pizzi also stands out in terms of key passes, with a total of 60, occupying the 4th place in the top 5. Cervi is in the 3rd place, with an additional key pass.

Three National Championships, two League Cups, one Portuguese Cup and two Cândido Oliveira Super Cups are the trophies won by Pizzi at Benfica, having been named the best player of the Portuguese League last season. 

Once again, the opinions may differ... but the numbers don't lie: Pizzi remains a player with a huge influence in the game of the Four-time Champions!

Text: Sónia Antunes

Pics: SL Benfica