We have always known that the Serie has provided the best defenders in the world. But their defense also carries a major load of goals scored in the league. Players like Materazzi and Massimo Oddo don’t just provide heft at the back but they lead the charge in scoring goals too.
In contrast, the Premiership defenders don’t get out much. It seems they relish their defined role of tackling and taking away, unless it is a Matthew Taylor who does not mind the occasional successful blast from yards away. However it is the Bundesliga that gives us the top scoring defender with Naldo, whose goal scoring opportunism has bagged him a half dozen for Werder Bremen.
Here are the stats that put the Serie on top. I took the number of goals scored by the top ten defenders and compared them to the goals scored by the top ten in the big four leagues.
1) Serie A: 32/105 – 30%
2) La Liga: 27/97- 28%
3) Bundesliga: 25/95 – 26%
4) Premiership: 24/114 – 21%
With 2/3rds of the season gone in these leagues, these percentages should hold true. You can interpret these numbers thus, for every three goals a Serie striker/midfielder scores, a defender chips in with one. In the EPL, this ratio is approximately 5:1.