Six goals a game is one thing. Producing the chances to back it up is another. 1. FC Magdeburg have been doing both lately, and the underlying numbers from their club friendlies read like a typo until you check them twice.
Across their last five friendlies, Magdeburg have scored 34 goals. That alone would turn heads. But the expected goals figure behind it, 6.80 xG per game, suggests this is not just finishing variance or a run of soft opposition falling apart late. The chances are genuinely there, match after match.
What the number means
An xG per game figure north of six is rare in any context. It points to a team repeatedly working the ball into high-value positions rather than scoring from distance or set-piece luck. Combined with 34 goals in five matches, the shot volume and shot quality both appear to be trending the same direction.
Friendlies come with their own caveats. Squads rotate, opponents vary wildly in level, and matches are often used for fitness and system work rather than results. That context matters when reading a number like 6.80 xG per game, and it should temper any instinct to project this output directly onto competitive fixtures.
Still, the raw figures are what they are. Thirty-four goals in five games is a serious output for any team, in any format, and the expected goals data backs up that the chances being created are real rather than a product of finishing above the run of play.
Whether that attacking pattern survives once Magdeburg return to competitive football is the obvious follow-up question. For now, the friendlies have produced one of the most eye-catching chance-creation numbers tracked anywhere in the current data.