The cognitive technology, Cogito, analyzed a sample of 30,000 tweets dedicated to the UEFA Champions League posted by users during the last week of May
– As Italy’s Juventus and Spain’s Real Madrid prepare to face off in Cardiff for the UEFA World Champions League match on June 3, football fans are turning to Twitter to cheer on their favorites. Which team is most beloved by fans? Which players are being talked about the most? And how do fans feel? While Italy and Spain remain true to their clubs, which teams are French and German users pulling for?
To answer these questions, Expert System applied its cognitive technology, Cogito, to analyse the opinions expressed by users on Twitter from May 19-31, 2017. Based on analysis of a sample of approximately 30,000 Tweets (related to the most commonly used Champion League hashtags such as #ChampionsLeague, #Cardiff2017, #juventus, #realmadrid, etc. written in English, Italian, Spanish, German and French), Juventus was most often cited in fan comments over rival Real Madrid.
Not surprisingly, Real Madrid was ranked first among Tweets written in Spanish and also ranked high for users writing in French and German.
What did Twitter users have to say about the teams’ strategies and their preferred formations for the final match?
Looking at the 11 most cited players from each team, the ideal formation, according to Twitter users, shows Juventus with a balanced 3-4-3 formation and the noticeable absence of Higuain in favor of Kean. Real Madrid fans seemed to prefer a four-point attack featuring Bale.
Finally, we wondered how Bianconeri fans would react if Allegri should decide to actually deploy the “fantasy formation” put forward by fans on Twitter (including their preference of Kean over Higuain). However, this is another story, and perhaps, another analysis 🙂
