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Player reportLa Liga 2025/26

Nahuel Molina

Roma
Ball-playing centre-back CB
4.7 progressive passes/90 · 2.1 line-breaking/90
centre-backstopper centre-backbuild-upline-breaking
1460
minutes
26 apps
872
passes
76% completed
76%
pass completion
872 passes
76
progressive passes
4.7/90
119
line-breaking passes
7.3/90
226
defensive actions
13.9/90
53
tackles + interceptions
55% tackle win
36
clearances
2.2/90
Overview

The player

Who he is and how he compares with his peers.

01

What Patterns Define Him?

His repeatable signature. A step only appears if its reliability score (sample size × match coverage) reaches at least Medium confidence — pattern mining, not anecdotes.

RECEIVE
in the first line of build-up — mostly in the middle third (44% of his 872 passes)
76% completion · 872× in 25/25 matches
↓
CARRY OUT
step into midfield to commit a presser
31 carries · 62× in 14/25 matches
↓
BREAK A LINE
vertical pass past the opponent midfield
4.7 prog/90 · 119× in 20/25 matches
↓
SWITCH PLAY
diagonal to the far side
cross-field balls · 27× in 13/25 matches
↓
PROGRESS
entries into the final third
3.6/90 · 58× in 19/25 matches
Signature: receive in the first line → break the midfield line vertically → switch or progress. Press him early and shut the vertical lane to force the safe sideways ball.
18

Where is he influential — vs where is he merely present?

Red fill = raw touch territory. Gold rings = zones where his influence (xT added, progression, line-breaks, key passes) outweighs how often he's actually there — one combined map instead of two separate maps to compare by eye. Red with no ring: present but not dangerous. A ring on faint red: rare touches, outsized impact.

own goal left, attacking →
35
passes / match
13.9
def actions / 90
2–73
pass range (matches)
36
clearances
Pass range = his fewest and most passes in any single match this season (2 at the low end, 73 at the high) — a measure of match-to-match involvement, not pass distance.
In possession

In possession

What he does with the ball: build-up, progression, creation, carrying and finishing.

10

How dangerous are his carries?

Real ball-carries

141 tracked carries (8.7/90, 37 progressive, 1336m total) — the ball moving with his touches, a different signal from dribbles below (beating an opponent 1v1). even a player who rarely dribbles past a man can still carry the ball forward constantly in build-up; this is that.

4%13%23%25%23%4%1%3%3%1%1%
progressivelateral/short% of his 141 carries originating in each zone · own goal left, attacking →
Every carry, exact path — median 7m, longest 42m
By zone — where the carry started → where it ended
11Outside → Inside
29Inside → Inside
87Outside → Outside
14Inside → Outside
First (48)Second (39)Third (38)Fourth (16)grouped by carry pattern (start + end position), largest group first
startendown goal left, attacking →

Beaten in the tackle

How often an attacker gets past him in a 1v1 defensive duel — the closest signal the data has to "dribbled past" (no attacker-beat-defender field exists directly, so this counts tackles he attempted and lost).

40
tackle duels
22
won
18
beaten · 45%
brighter band = more tackle duels · own goal left, attacking →
INSIDE 15%
OUTSIDE 85%
Tackle-duel location — 6 inside · 34 outside
Right Wing
32 · 80%
Right Half-Space
5 · 12%
Central
1 · 2%
Left Half-Space
0 · 0%
Left Wing
2 · 5%
Vision AI beaten in 18 of 40 tackle duels (45% loss rate) — a real defensive leak worth flagging.
Every tackle duel, exact location
wonlost — dribbled pastown goal left, attacking →

Dribbles (1v1s)

For a centre-back the carry is a build-up weapon — does he step out through the middle, or keep it simple? Every carry classified by channel. Season rate: 1.94 dribbles attempted /90.

brighter band = more dribbles · own goal left, attacking →
INSIDE 32%
OUTSIDE 68%
Dribble location — 10 inside · 21 outside
Right Wing
21 · 68%
Right Half-Space
7 · 23%
Central
2 · 6%
Left Half-Space
1 · 3%
Left Wing
0 · 0%
Vision AI 32% of his carries are central — he steps out through the middle to draw a presser before releasing.
02

How does he build & move the ball?

How does he escape the first line?

14%
vertical passes
47×
4%
switches
14×
19%
carries
61×
62%
short circulation
203×
Answer: he escapes the press primarily through carrying — stepping out with the ball.

How he moves the ball — his 4 busiest progression routes, not where every pass starts and ends separately. Arrow width = how often, colour = xT gained, dashed = switch of play. The full breakdown is in the lane matrix below.

own goal left, attacking →
Lane transition matrix — when he receives in a lane, where does it go?
TO →RWRHSCLHSLWRW46953%25035%16511%510%20%1RHS14225%3632%4637%524%61%2C447%316%752%2316%79%4LHS1020%210%170%7LW2100%2FROM
Rows normalised: each row sums to 100% of that lane's completed passes. Grey number = passes from that lane.

Primary route: the right wing in the middle third → the right half-space in the middle third — 14 progressive passes (14% of his progression) at 0.012 xT each. He moves it inside.

His progression is inward: 68% of progressive passes move the ball toward the middle versus 3% going wider — he cuts in rather than holding width.

Only 7% of his passes switch play, so his threat is same-side — contain the flank he occupies and the route closes.

Quality behind the volume: 34 line-breaking passes and 58 final-third entries, 14.8 total xT added.

Origin and destination are measured on the same event row — no receiver inference. Receiver identity is not recoverable from this data source.
All passes — origin zone share
Filter: from to
7%18%18%21%18%7%0%2%2%3%1%0%0%0%0%0%
completedincomplete872 passes · any zone → any zone · own goal left, attacking →
872
passes
76%
completed
205
lost
Vision AIIn line with his 76% season completion rate.
03

How does he progress play?

How much he drives the ball forward. Progressive = completed pass advancing ≥15 toward goal.

76
progressive · 4.7/90
58
final-third entries · 3.6/90
13
box entries · 0.80/90
24
progression index /90
Progression index: one composite number — progressive passes + progressive carries + 2% of total distance progressed + 8× positive xT added, all per 90. Weights VOLUME and THREAT together rather than counting progressive actions alone.
13

How does he create chances?

21 key passes (1.29/90), 0 of them assists — where his chance creation specifically comes from, 18 zones (6×3), showing his share of key passes originating there.

Chance creation — key pass origin zone share
Filter:
5%5%11%32%21%5%11%5%5%
chance creation (19)assist (0)% of the selected group's key passes originating in each zone
06

Where does he become vulnerable?

221 times he gave the ball away. For a defender the danger is where — a loss in his own third can turn into a chance against; higher up it costs little.

82
attacking third (cheap)
71
middle third
68
own third (dangerous)
Vision AI 37% of losses are in the attacking third — a notable share happen deeper, which invites transitions.
Mistake danger (proxy): 5.10 danger-index/90 · 0.375 avg/turnover. Weights each loss by threat conceded at that location. True xT-conceded needs the opponent possession model; positional proxy.
05

What is his passing profile?

872
passes attempted
42%
mostly forward
56%
mostly short
Direction
Forward
370 · 42%
Sideways
306 · 35%
Backward
196 · 22%
Length (completed)
Short (<15m)
376 · 56%
Medium
247 · 37%
Long (>30m)
44 · 7%
07

Preferred Progression Routes — xT-weighted

His progressive passes as zone→zone routes, weighted by expected threat (xT) added — arrow width and the number are the total xT generated on each route, not just how often he plays it. This is where he actually moves the needle.

1.200.740.620.570.540.51
own goal left, attacking →
Highest-value routes (xT)
1.20
Right Wing Mid third → Right Half-Space Att third
5 passes · 1 to a shot
0.74
Right Wing Mid third → Right Wing Att third
6 passes
0.62
Right Wing Def third → Right Wing Mid third
12 passes
0.57
Right Wing Att third → Right Half-Space Att third
2 passes · 1 to a shot
0.54
Right Half-Space Mid third → Right Wing Att third
5 passes · 1 to a shot
0.51
Right Wing Mid third → Right Half-Space Mid third
5 passes
08

Where Does He Receive?

The zones where Nahuel Molina gets on the ball — his top three ball-collection areas highlighted (gold = primary). Reception is proxied by where his on-ball actions begin (no explicit receiver is recorded).

123
1 = primary, 2 = secondary, 3 = third · own goal left, attacking →
His collection zones
30%
Primary
Right Wing, Middle third
20%
Secondary
Right Wing, Defensive third
20%
Third
Right Wing, Attacking third
These are the zones where he collected the ball most.
09

Where Does He Operate? — Every Zone

Every on-ball touch (pass, dribble, shot) binned into a 6×3 grid — raw counts of where Nahuel Molina actually gets on the ball. Hover any zone for its breakdown by action type, its share of all touches, and the exact coordinate range it covers.

Filter:
4224331419271916316416918317070
own goal left, attacking → · brighter + higher number = more touches

Passes only — completed vs incomplete, by zone

Same zone grid, restricted to passes so completed/incomplete and match filters actually mean something — a shot or a dribble has no "completed" in the pass sense.

7%18%18%21%18%7%0%2%2%3%1%0%0%0%0%0%
own goal left, attacking →
11

Every Pass This Season — completed vs incomplete

Every pass this season, plotted individually — green = completed, grey (dashed) = incomplete, gold = key pass. Filter by outcome or isolate one match below.

21Key pass
26Cross
16Cutback
76Progressive
119Long ball
27Switch
By zone — where the pass started → where it landed
220Outside → Inside
144Inside → Inside
251Outside → Outside
52Inside → Outside
By direction
370Forward
196Backward
306Sideways
own goal left, attacking →
04

Tactical patterns — how his football actually looks

Three clustered sequence diagrams from his own event data — his three busiest routes: the way he progresses, the pattern behind his chances, and where a turnover turns dangerous.

own goal left, attacking →
How does he progress the ball forward?
His most common route for progressing play: he plays inside from the right wing toward the right hs, advancing it forward in the middle third — 5 passes worth 1.20 xT.
Where do his chances come from?
Of 21 key passes, his busiest route is a delivery where he plays inside from the right wing toward the central in the final third — 5 times. The receiver isn't identifiable in this data, only where the pass started and ended.
Where does he lose the ball most?
This is a RATE, not a raw count — the share of his touches in each zone that end in a turnover, so a zone he simply plays in more often doesn't automatically look riskier. His weakest zone is the right half-space in the final third: 43% of his 53 touches there are lost (23 times).
29%52/179 lost22%10/45 lost17%2/12 lost—2 touches · too few—2 touches · too few16%42/256 lost17%16/93 lost16%5/31 lost—6 touches · too few—1 touch · too few28%49/177 lost43%23/53 lost20%2/10 lost—3 touches · too few—2 touches · too fewRWRHSCLHSLWDEFMIDATT
12

Crosses & Cutbacks

26 crosses (1.60/90, 7 completed) and 16 cutbacks (0.99/90, 7 completed) — two separate wide-delivery patterns into the box, each its own map with a completed/failed filter. Neither is a tagged event, so both are inferred from pass geometry — the intended end point of a failed attempt is still real data (an interception doesn’t erase where the ball was aimed): a cross is a pass aimed into the box starting from a wide channel; a cutback starts almost on the byline but is squared back rather than driven forward, aimed centrally around the box. The completed-cross count was checked against this platform’s own real match-level cross totals and lands within about 1 cross of the true count.

Crosses — close-up on the final third
Cutbacks — close-up on the final third
completedfailed (dashed)close-up on the box — attacking ↑ toward goal
Out of possession

Out of possession

Where and how he defends and presses.

14

How & where does he defend?

226 defensive actions across the season (13.9/90). Where he wins the ball, and how — the core question for a defender. Aerial duels are not recorded for this competition, so aerial dominance is not measured here.

click a card to isolate that action type · own goal left, attacking →
40
tackles · 55% won
13
interceptions · 0.8/90
80
recoveries · 4.9/90
36
clearances · 2.2/90
14
blocks
30
avg action height
12
won high (att 3rd)
76
middle third
138
own third
Vision AI A deep-defending defender. He wins the ball mainly by stepping in — tackles, interceptions & recoveries outweigh clearances. 133 proactive ball-wins (8.2/90), tackle success 55%. He defends mostly around the middle third.
15

Can he play under pressure?

Split by how hard the opponent pressed (opponent PPDA — lower = more intense press). Can Nahuel Molina still play out when the opponent presses high? His build-up quality split by press intensity — the key question for a ball-playing defender. Tiers of ~8-10 matches — directional evidence, not proof.

press tier
completion
prog /90
line-breaks /90
xT /90
High press (PPDA 5.3, 8m)
73%
3.8
7.9
1.21
Mid press (PPDA 6.5, 8m)
76%
4.8
6.7
1.47
Low press (PPDA 8.6, 10m)
81%
5.9
7.2
1.38
Team

Team context

How much of the team runs through him, and what changes without him.

16

Impact on the Team

Roma's output per match with Nahuel Molina (26 matches) versus without him (12 matches). What his own defending should move — goals conceded and results — leads; attacking output (largely out of a defender's hands) is shown after, for context. A proper on-off model needs many more minutes.

WITH (26)
WITHOUT (12)
Δ
goals against /match
1.19
1.08
+0.11
points /match
1.88
1.67
+0.22
goals for /match
1.73
1.42
+0.31
xG for /match
1.48
0.82
+0.67
17

His Share of the Team

Of everything Roma produced this season, the categories where the biggest share ran through Nahuel Molina specifically — his share of the team total, not a per-90 rate.

category
share
him / team
expected assists (xA)
7%
2.6 / 38.5
tackles
6%
55 / 938
progressive passes
5%
147 / 2710
Recruitment

Style and verdict

Style profile, closest comparables, and the summary.

19

Playing-Style Profile

Not raw event counts — football style scores: weighted models scored 0–100 against the 515 centre-backs in the pool (min 450 min). This is what separates players who post similar numbers but play differently. Proxy dimensions are inferred from on-ball data; true off-ball running / under-pressure context is not measured.

Stopper centre-back71%Ball-playing centre-back37%
Why Stopper centre-back 71%: a weighted blend of ball-winning 74 (weight 40%) + defensive aggression 73 (weight 35%) + transition 55 (weight 10%) + retention 18 (weight 15%). The score reflects how distinctively his profile SHAPE matches this archetype vs his peers.
Elite
line-breaking, receiving zones, creativity, through-balls, territory (wide vs central), final-third threat, progression
Strong
crossing, dribbling, ball-winning, defensive aggression
Average
box threat, carrying, transition, press resistance
Weak
build-up, retention, passing directness
Unknown
aerial ability, marking, off-ball running — not in event data
Line-breaking
100
Receiving zones
100
Creativity
100
Through-balls ~proxy
97
Territory (wide vs central)
96
Final-third threat
92
Progression
90
Crossing
82
Dribbling
80
Ball-winning
74
Defensive aggression
73
Box threat
67
Carrying
66
Transition ~proxy
55
Press resistance ~proxy
48
Build-up
24
Retention
18
Passing directness
3
20

Similar Players — in style space

Closest comparables measured on the style scores above, within the same position family — so it separates how players are alike, not just how much they touch the ball. Each line explains the shared strength and the divergent mechanism. A light physical-profile term (height / weight; this player: 175 cm / 70 kg) is included at a quarter of one style axis's weight — enough to break ties between stylistic twins, not to override style. Scope: pooled across the Serie A, Bundesliga, La Liga, Ligue 1 and Premier League, percentiled within each player's own league before comparing — a match from another league is marked with its league name.

Style, not quality: a high match here means two players tend to produce the ball in similar ways — it is not a ranking, a scouting recommendation, or a claim that they are equally good.

Malo Gusto Chelsea · Premier League · 178 cm / 67 kg
96%
Driven by: creativity (18%), receiving zones (11%), passing directness (8%).
Aboubakar Nagida Rennes · Ligue 1 · 176 cm / 74 kg
94%
Driven by: creativity (13%), receiving zones (8%). Different mechanism — Nagida more via ball-winning, passing directness.
Djed Spence Inter · 185 cm / 71 kg
93%
Driven by: creativity (16%), receiving zones (10%), passing directness (9%). Different mechanism — Molina more via line-breaking, progression.
Arnau Martínez Valencia · La Liga · 182 cm / 72 kg
93%
Driven by: creativity (17%), receiving zones (9%), passing directness (9%). Different mechanism — Molina more via progression, line-breaking.
Isaac Schmidt Werder Bremen · Bundesliga 25/26 · 172 cm / 72 kg
92%
Driven by: receiving zones (9%), line-breaking (8%), crossing (8%). Different mechanism — Molina more via creativity, final-third threat.
Timothy Weah Marseille · Ligue 1 · 183 cm / 66 kg
92%
Driven by: creativity (16%), receiving zones (10%). Different mechanism — Molina more via dribbling, ball-winning; Weah more via box threat.
21

Summary

Nahuel Molina is a stopper centre-back: 76% pass completion, 119 line-breaking passes and 4.7 progressive passes /90. A build-and-progress centre-back whose value is in beating the first line with the pass, not in raw defensive volume. [Aerial duels, marking, line-height and 1v1 recovery need aerial-event + tracking data, absent here.]

Based on 26 matches (1460 minutes) — a reasonable read, still building toward a full-season sample. He profiles as a stopper centre-back — best used in a system built around that identity. His biggest room for growth is retention — even a modest improvement there would meaningfully lift his overall stopper centre-back profile.
✨ This report is interactive

Click any stat card to filter its map, hover a dot for the exact match, and use the dropdowns to slice passes zone-to-zone. Nothing here is static.

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