5 teams with the meanest defences in 2019 European club football competition
Champions League winners Liverpool and Europa League winners Chelsea scored goals aplenty during their respective title winning campaigns in the 2018-19 European club football season.
Liverpool (30) and Chelsea (35) are one of 4 teams - all from the English Premier League - to score 30 or more European goals in 2019. With 9 and 10 match wins respectively, the two Premier League sides also have the most European wins of any team during the year.
But when it came to matters at the other end of the pitch, the duo cede ground to other teams. In fact, Liverpool and Chelsea are conspicuous by their absence in the list of top 5 teams with the meanest defences in European club football competitions in 2019.
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Let us now meet the quintet with the stingiest defences in European club football during the year.
Note: only teams that have played at least 10 European games during the year have been considered.
#5 Internazionale (10 goals conceded in 10 games; 1 conceded goal / game)
Having missed out on a Round of 16 place in the 2018-19 Champions League by the slimmest of margins, Internazionale continued their European season after Christmas in the Europa League, where they joined the competition in the Round of 32.
The Nerazzurri eased to a 5-0 aggregate win over Rapid Wien to book a Round of 16 showdown with eventual semifinalists Eintracht Frankfurt. Following three consecutive clean sheets, a solitary goal defeat at home in the second leg put paid to Internazionale's European ambitions for the season.
Inter started their 2019-20 European season in the Champions League, where an injury time equalizer helped avert an embarrassing opening day home defeat to Slavia Praha. In a tough group containing two other former winners - Barcelona and Borussia Dortmund - Inter squandered away leads in both games en route to defeats.
Needing a home win over Barcelona on Matchday 6 to qualify for the Round of 16, the Nerazzuri fell to a 1-2 defeat to drop down to the Europa League.