Ahmed Jahouh vs Paulo Machado: Who comes out on top?

Following his move to FC Goa in the summer of 2017, Ahmed Jahou quickly established himself as one of the league’s top performers. His class was evident from the word go, dictating the tempo of games with a sumptuous range of passes, crunching tackles, and linking up play between defense and attack.

The deep-lying playmaker is primarily a passer and his polished passing makes him an integral part of FC Goa’s team.

The opposing player to Jahouh could be Mumbai City FC’s Paulo Machado, who has slowly but surely built his name in the Indian Super League.

Paulo Machado has turned out for the likes of St. Etienne, Toulouse, Olympiakos and Dinamo Zagreb.

Machado who has featured 6 times for his country Portugal, is not just a typical midfield enforcer, but also glides forward when the opportunity arises. And here’s how his numbers fare when put against the Moroccan international.

Paulo Machado has scored 2 goals and has provided 5 assists in 27 starts for Mumbai City FC. The 33-year old averages 1.16 shots at goal, 57.30 touches, and 43.41 passes per game with a passing accuracy of 66.72%.

Ahmed Jahouh is yet to score in the league but has provided 5 assists in 44 starts for FC Goa. The Moroccan international averages 1.49 shots at goal, 99.16 touches, and 78.2 passes per game with a passing accuracy of 79.39%.

Undoubtedly, Jahouh is more composed in possession and has better passing stats than Machado. However, there is lots of room for improvement for Machado, for now Jahou has set the standard.

The one area where Machado excels is in the goal-scoring department unlike Jahouh who is pretty wasteful when he gets into the opposition half.

Ahmed Jahou is adept at breaking down opponents and frustrating them

The areas where Ahmed Jahouh excels is in dispossessing players, blocking shots, intercepting passes and picking up loose balls.

His stats per 90 minutes are very impressive with 6.45 tackles, 1.88 interceptions, 2.27 clearances, and 1.88 blocks. But FC Goa star also averages 2.17 fouls per game in the defensive midfield role.

Whereas Machado averages 4.5 tackles per game, 1.13 interceptions, 0.92 clearances, and 0.84 blocks won per 90 minutes.

It is worth noting that Machado has played a lesser number of matches. Despite that, Ahmed Jahou is far superior to Machado in terms of numbers and it's not hard to see why the Moroccan international has garnered lavish praise from fans and pundits alike.