The lowdown on Luis Rioja

Valencia CF ended the season with a victory over FC Barcelona, and one of the standout performers was Luis Rioja, who scored a goal and excelled in numerous statistical categories. The Andalusian attacker finished the campaign as the club’s joint top assist provider (6), alongside Javi Guerra.

On the one hand, regarding the statistical aspects of the match against the Catalan side, in physical terms, Rioja was the player who covered the most distance at speeds above 24 km/h (615m), the one who registered the most sprints above 21 km/h (51), and the third Valencia CF player — fourth overall in the match — with the greatest total distance covered (10,675m).

As for his defensive contribution, the player from Las Cabezas de San Juan was the footballer with the most opposition attacking interruptions (5). In the offensive technical-tactical category involving build-up and progression play, he also recorded the best short-to-medium passing accuracy percentage (94%). All of this was added to his goal contribution.

Luis Rioja has also been one of the team’s standout performers in the overall statistical rankings for the domestic season. He finished as the club’s joint top assist provider (6) — level with Javi Guerra —, the second player with the most minutes played (2,861), behind only César Tárrega (2,892), and the footballer with the most high-impact attacking actions (43). He also completed the most crosses (39), made the most passes in the attacking third (369), and led the team in key passes leading to shots (38).

In addition, Rioja was the third-most fouled player in the squad (29), behind Hugo Duro (37) and Diego López (33), while also ranking first in successful dribbles (35).

He also stood out in the physical metrics: the player with the greatest total distance covered in the squad (304.9 km), first in average high-intensity distance covered per match (524.9m), the player with the most sprints completed (1,394) — and third in average per game (45.8) — as well as the most high-intensity sprints (748). He also covered the most distance at speeds above 24 km/h (15,969m) and above 21 km/h (26,864m), and was the second-fastest player in the Valencia CF squad with a top speed of 32.4 km/h, just behind Diego López (32.5 km/h).