As European professional football developed, data had become an auxiliary tool everyone had grown accustomed to over the years.
Even in the European leagues, many professional data companies provided clubs with all kinds of statistics. OPTA in Britain, for example, had initially only provided data for Sky TV's broadcasts and analysis, but gradually expanded its operations. Not only did it begin collecting all sorts of detailed statistics, it also gradually began working with clubs.
Besides OPTA, there were many other similar professional data companies with related services.
By now, before every match, any major media outlet that failed to provide detailed information on the matchup and historical data was considered extremely unprofessional. The data available to clubs, meanwhile, far exceeded anything outsiders could imagine, whether in detail or breadth.
Before every match, the coaching staff provided the players with detailed information and data on their opponents. That was perfectly normal.
For example, Barcelona goalkeeper Valdes had received a complete report before the match on all of Real Madrid's players' shooting habits, especially the situations in which Yang Yang was most likely to use different kinds of shots and the probabilities of each.
The same applied to free kicks. There were statistics and calculations on which positions Yang Yang favored for free kicks and how he liked to take them.
Valdes did not consider himself an especially diligent football fanatic, but as a professional player who had faced Real Madrid for years and played against Yang Yang dozens of times, he knew Yang Yang better than anyone. Naturally, he knew Yang Yang's data inside out.
When he saw Yang Yang place the ball on the penalty spot and slowly back away, he instinctively began searching through the information stored in his mind. He wanted to see whether Yang Yang had any