Two of the A-League’s most threatening players will go head-to-head this weekend when Melbourne City travel to Western Australia to take on Perth Glory.
Jamie Maclaren has led City this year, finding the back of the net 14 times which has him sitting second in the race for the golden boot. He and his City teammates will be facing a familiar face in Bruno Fornaroli. He played 74 games in a City shirt, scoring 51 goals and giving off seven assists in his time at the club. In this, his first season at Glory, Fornaroli has continued that form, scoring 11 goals so far.
Fornaroli has played in all of Perth’s 18 games, while Maclaren has played in 16, missing games due to a hamstring injury earlier in the season and international duty.
Of the two players, Fornaroli finds more of the ball, averaging 21.3 passes per 90 minutes while Maclaren averages 13.3. He also is the better passer of the two, boasting an 81% competition rate while Maclaren’s passes are successful 69.1% of the time. Fornaroli has made 16 key passes for two assists this season, while Maclaren has made 13 key passes for four assists.
Although he has played in two less games, Maclaren has still had more shots out of the two, shooting 45 times while Fornaroli has shot 43 times this season. Of those shots, 25 of Maclaren’s have been on target and 29 of Fornaroli’s have been.
Both have scored eight goals on their preferred right foot and Maclaren has scored four on his left and two headers. Fornaroli has scored just twice on his left while also scoring one header, demonstrating Maclaren’s great versatility in attack.
All but one of Maclaren’s goals have come from inside the box, while Fornaroli has scored four goals from outside the box with one being a free kick. On average, Maclaren scores a goal every 98.9 minutes while Fornaroli sits at 145.5 minutes per goal.
Fornaroli is the more ill-disciplined of the two, being whistled for 18 fouls this season and picking up three yellow cards. Maclaren has conceded just the 12 fouls and is yet to go into the book this season.
