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Player reportLigue 1 2026

Willian Pacho

PSG
Stopper centre-back CB
14.6 defensive actions/90 · 3.2 progressive/90 — defends first
Capability Analysis
Aerial & Box Defending6%vs 43 centre-backs
"Can he win the individual defensive battle in his own box?"
Aerial duels won /900.00%
Aerial win rate: 0.0%
Clearances /902.9211%
Ball-Winning62%vs 43 centre-backs
"How actively does he win the ball back?"
Interceptions /901.0441%
Ball recoveries /905.0191%
Tackles /901.8173%
Duels won /901.543%
Breaking Pressure
no action recorded in any high-press match yet
Progression34%vs 43 centre-backs
"Can he move the team forward with a pass, not just recycle it sideways?"
Progressive passes /901.290%
Line-breaking passes /900.315%
Threat added by passing /900.87xT32%
Pass accuracy95.37%98%
Ball-Carrying44%vs 43 centre-backs
"Does he advance the ball himself when the pass isn't on?"
Progressive carries /904.5932%
Carry distance /90130.96m55%
centre-backstopper centre-backbuild-upline-breaking
568
minutes
6 apps
397
passes
97% completed
97%
pass completion
397 passes
20
progressive passes
3.2/90
21
line-breaking passes
3.3/90
92
defensive actions
14.6/90
18
tackles + interceptions
58% tackle win
16
clearances
2.5/90
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 (51% of his 397 passes)
97% completion · 397× in 6/6 matches
↓
BREAK A LINE
vertical pass past the opponent midfield
3.2 prog/90 · 21× in 6/6 matches
↓
SWITCH PLAY
diagonal to the far side
cross-field balls · 19× in 5/6 matches
↓
PROGRESS
entries into the final third
2.2/90 · 14× in 6/6 matches
Signature: Receive → Break A Line → Switch Play → Progress — the only steps proven repeatable this season (4 of 5 in the full pattern). Not enough evidence yet for the rest of the chain below.
Not a pattern: carry out — 0× (insufficient confidence, hidden — not enough evidence yet) — omitted from the signature rather than presented as one.
16

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 →
66
passes / match
14.6
def actions / 90
53–84
pass range (matches)
16
clearances
Pass range = his fewest and most passes in any single match this season (53 at the low end, 84 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.

08

How dangerous are his carries?

Real ball-carries

92 tracked carries (14.6/90, 16 progressive, 741m 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.

1%2%1%11%33%15%7%14%7%5%3%1%
progressivelateral/short% of his 92 carries originating in each zone · own goal left, attacking →
Every carry, exact path — median 6m, longest 28m
By zone — where the carry started → where it ended
5Outside → Inside
83Inside → Inside
2Outside → Outside
2Inside → Outside
First (29)Second (26)Third (23)Fourth (14)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).

12
tackle duels
7
won
5
beaten · 42%
brighter band = more tackle duels · own goal left, attacking →
INSIDE 75%
OUTSIDE 25%
Tackle-duel location — 9 inside · 3 outside
Right Wing
1 · 8%
Right Half-Space
1 · 8%
Central
6 · 50%
Left Half-Space
2 · 17%
Left Wing
2 · 17%
Vision AI beaten in 5 of 12 tackle duels (42% loss rate) — a real defensive leak worth flagging.
Every tackle duel, exact location
wonlost — dribbled pastown goal left, attacking →

He attempted only 0 dribbles of his own all season — dribbling is not part of this role; his ball-carrying is covered above, his defending against the dribble below.

02

How does he build & move the ball?

How does he escape the first line?

6%
vertical passes
19×
6%
switches
19×
26%
carries
82×
62%
short circulation
196×
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 →RWRHSCLHSLWRW0RHS166%125%450%819%3C2414%1029%7021%5032%7714%34LHS1073%321%2327%2921%2327%29LW2030%625%545%9FROM
Rows normalised: each row sums to 100% of that lane's completed passes. Grey number = passes from that lane.

Primary route: the left half-space in the middle third → the left half-space in the middle third — 2 progressive passes (40% of his progression) at 0.035 xT each. He keeps it in the same lane.

His progression is inward: 40% of progressive passes move the ball toward the middle versus 20% going wider — he cuts in rather than holding width.

10% of his passes are cross-field switches — he changes the point of attack often.

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
1%1%1%1%5%29%26%12%1%6%7%8%3%1%
completedincomplete397 passes · any zone → any zone · own goal left, attacking →
397
passes
97%
completed
13
lost
Vision AIIn line with his 97% season completion rate.
04

How does he progress play?

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

20
progressive · 3.2/90
14
final-third entries · 2.2/90
0
box entries · 0.00/90
12
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.
11

How does he create chances?

0 key passes (0.00/90), 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:
chance creation (0)assist (0)% of the selected group's key passes originating in each zone
05

What is his passing profile?

397
passes attempted
55%
mostly sideways
51%
mostly medium
Direction
Forward
152 · 38%
Sideways
217 · 55%
Backward
28 · 7%
Length (completed)
Short (<15m)
168 · 44%
Medium
195 · 51%
Long (>30m)
21 · 5%
10

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.

0.140.110.110.090.090.07
own goal left, attacking →
Highest-value routes (xT)
0.14
Central Mid third → Left Wing Mid third
3 passes
0.11
Left Half-Space Mid third → Central Mid third
1 passes
0.11
Central Mid third → Left Half-Space Mid third
1 passes
0.09
Central Mid third → Right Wing Mid third
2 passes
0.09
Left Half-Space Mid third → Left Half-Space Mid third
1 passes
0.07
Left Half-Space Def third → Left Half-Space Mid third
1 passes
06

Where Does He Receive?

The zones where Willian Pacho 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
33%
Primary
Central, Middle third
28%
Secondary
Central, Defensive third
14%
Third
Left Half-Space, Defensive third
These are the zones where he collected the ball most.
07

Where Does He Operate? — Every Zone

Every on-ball touch (pass, dribble, shot) binned into a 6×3 grid — raw counts of where Willian Pacho 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:
232633123211151024942422
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.

1%1%1%1%5%29%26%12%1%6%7%8%3%1%
own goal left, attacking →
09

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.

20Progressive
21Long ball
19Switch
By zone — where the pass started → where it landed
11Outside → Inside
287Inside → Inside
9Outside → Outside
77Inside → Outside
By direction
152Forward
28Backward
217Sideways
own goal left, attacking →
03

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 switches it out from the central to the left wing in the middle third — 3 passes worth 0.14 xT.
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 left wing in the defensive third: 25% of his 12 touches there are lost (3 times).
—1 touch · too few11%1/9 lost0%0/110 lost4%2/57 lost25%3/12 lost—0 touches · too few0%0/8 lost2%3/130 lost4%2/53 lost0%0/10 lost—0 touches · too few—0 touches · too few—4 touches · too few—1 touch · too few—2 touches · too fewRWRHSCLHSLWDEFMIDATT
Out of possession

Out of possession

Where and how he defends and presses.

12

How & where does he defend?

92 defensive actions across the season (14.6/90). 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 →
12
tackles · 58% won
6
interceptions · 1.0/90
34
recoveries · 5.4/90
16
clearances · 2.5/90
2
blocks
35
avg action height
5
won high (att 3rd)
47
middle third
40
own third
Vision AI A mid-block defender. He wins the ball mainly by stepping in — tackles, interceptions & recoveries outweigh clearances. 52 proactive ball-wins (8.2/90), tackle success 58%. He defends mostly around the middle third.
13

Can he play under pressure?

Split by how hard the opponent pressed (opponent PPDA — lower = more intense press). Can Willian Pacho 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 ~2-2 matches — directional evidence, not proof.

press tier
completion
prog /90
line-breaks /90
xT /90
High press (PPDA 6.6, 2m)
95%
2.4
2.9
0.55
Mid press (PPDA 9.0, 2m)
98%
2.9
3.3
0.76
Low press (PPDA 15.4, 2m)
96%
4.3
3.8
1.03
Team

Team context

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

14

Impact on the Team

PSG's output per match with Willian Pacho (6 matches) versus without him (2 matches). Insufficient evidence — the without-sample is only 2 matches; treat every Δ below as noise until more games exist. 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 (6)
WITHOUT (2)
Δ
goals against /match
1.17
1.00
+0.17
points /match
1.83
3.00
-1.17
goals for /match
1.67
3.00
-1.33
xG for /match
1.95
2.91
-0.96
15

His Share of the Team

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

category
share
him / team
clearances
13%
84 / 634
interceptions
10%
30 / 313
tackles
8%
52 / 632
Recruitment

Style and verdict

Style profile, closest comparables, and the summary.

17

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-back81%Ball-playing centre-back62%
Why Stopper centre-back 81%: a weighted blend of ball-winning 73 (weight 40%) + defensive aggression 75 (weight 35%) + retention 78 (weight 15%) + transition 64 (weight 10%). The score reflects how distinctively his profile SHAPE matches this archetype vs his peers.
Elite
—
Strong
build-up, retention, defensive aggression, ball-winning
Average
passing directness, receiving zones, transition, box threat, creativity
Weak
carrying, press resistance, final-third threat, progression, crossing, through-balls, dribbling, line-breaking, territory (wide vs central)
Unknown
aerial ability, marking, off-ball running — not in event data
Build-up
82
Retention
78
Defensive aggression
75
Ball-winning
73
Passing directness
68
Receiving zones
67
Transition ~proxy
64
Box threat
44
Creativity
43
Carrying
39
Press resistance ~proxy
39
Final-third threat
25
Progression
19
Crossing
18
Through-balls ~proxy
14
Dribbling
12
Line-breaking
12
Territory (wide vs central)
3
18

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: 188 cm / 81 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 Ligue 1, Bundesliga, La Liga, Premier League and Serie A, 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.

Isak Hien Atalanta · Serie A 25/26 · 191 cm / 88 kg
80%
Driven by: territory (wide vs central) (13%), defensive aggression (11%), progression (11%). Different mechanism — Pacho more via receiving zones; Hien more via dribbling, passing directness.
Carlos Domínguez Celta Vigo · La Liga 25/26 · 187 cm / 81 kg
78%
Driven by: dribbling (18%), territory (wide vs central) (16%), build-up (16%). Different mechanism — Pacho more via defensive aggression, ball-winning; Domínguez more via progression, passing directness.
Evan Ndicka Roma · Serie A · 192 cm / 85 kg
75%
Driven by: build-up (14%), progression (11%), line-breaking (11%). Different mechanism — Pacho more via receiving zones; Ndicka more via dribbling, box threat.
Juan Jesus Venezia · Serie A · 185 cm / 83 kg
75%
Driven by: dribbling (19%), build-up (16%), ball-winning (13%). Different mechanism — Pacho more via box threat, receiving zones; Jesus more via territory (wide vs central), progression.
Diego Llorente Real Betis · La Liga · 186 cm / 75 kg
74%
Driven by: line-breaking (12%), territory (wide vs central) (12%), dribbling (11%). Different mechanism — Pacho more via receiving zones, creativity.
Robin Le Normand Atletico · La Liga · 187 cm / 80 kg
73%
Driven by: dribbling (17%), line-breaking (12%), through-balls (12%). Different mechanism — Pacho more via receiving zones, ball-winning; Normand more via territory (wide vs central).
19

Summary

Willian Pacho is a stopper centre-back / ball-playing centre-back: 97% pass completion, 21 line-breaking passes and 3.2 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 6 matches (568 minutes) — an early read, treat with caution until more minutes are logged. He profiles as a stopper centre-back / ball-playing centre-back — best used in a system built around that identity. His biggest room for growth is transition — 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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