Djordje Petrović (194cm / 6’4”, 89kg / 196lbs) has been one of Ligue 1’s top goalkeepers in the 2024/2025 campaign.
The 25-year-old Serbia international is playing a crucial role in Strasbourg’s fight for UEFA Champions League qualification, with Liam Rosenior’s side currently placed fifth in the league, one point behind Nice in fourth.
Petrović joined Le Racing on loan from English Premier League giants Chelsea for the 2024/2025 campaign after the Serb moved to West London from MLS side New England Revolution for a transfer fee of €16m in the summer of 2023.
The FK Čukarički product made 23 Premier League appearances for the Blues last season before departing Stamford Bridge on loan for the current campaign.
Petrović has gone on to thrive under Liam Rosenior tactics this term, giving Chelsea manager Enzo Maresca a lot to think about with regard to the ‘keeper’s future when he returns to England after this term’s conclusion.
Our Djordje Petrović player analysis and scout report piece aims to highlight the key aspects of Petrović’s game which have made him stand out among Ligue 1 and world football’s goalkeepers in 2024/2025.
Our analysis combines data and video analysis to paint a clear picture of the 25-year-old stopper’s game and why many Chelsea fans are getting excited about his return to Stamford Bridge.
Djordje Petrović Data Analysis
Firstly, we’ll examine Petrović’s performances with Strasbourg in 2024/25 quite broadly before taking a more in-depth dive later in our scout report.
Analysing Figure 1, some broad conclusions regarding Petrović’s campaign with Strasbourg can be drawn.
First, looking at the yellow ‘GK metrics’, the main standout number in this section has to be Petrović’s save rate.
For that particular metric, the Strasbourg man fell in the top quarter of all GKs in Europe’s top-five leagues.
The Serbia international also does quite well across the board in the ‘defending’ metrics, many of which reflect his ability to come off his line, contest aerial balls and claim crosses.
Finally, Petrović performs exceptionally well in the pink ‘distribution’ section of our pizza chart.
He’s been trusted with getting involved heavily in Strasbourg’s build-up play this term, leading to him both receiving and completing more passes than almost all other GKs in Europe’s top-five leagues this term.
Furthermore, Petrović completes a relatively high number of progressive passes, reflecting his ability to drive his team forward with a significant contribution on the ball rather than merely playing simple passes.
While Strasbourg have conceded the seventh-most xG of any team in Ligue 1 this term at the time of writing (45.79), they’ve conceded the seventh-fewest amount of actual goals.
Their 25-year-old loanee between the sticks has played no small part in this discrepancy, as the shots faced map in Figure 2 indicates.
Petrović has faced 39.48 non-penalty xG this season and prevented a whopping 17.48 goals based on the quality of attempts he’s faced—conceding 22 non-penalty league goals in total.
These are extremely impressive numbers, placing Petrović above all other GKs in France’s top flight for goals prevented this season.
As mentioned above, Petrović plays a key role in his team’s build-up play, getting heavily involved on the ball.
As the heat map above indicates, he spends a significant amount of time outside of his penalty area, especially to the left of the backline.
Petrović has demonstrated a great deal of comfort moving out of his box and aiding his team’s build-up play in a very proactive manner, which may appeal to Enzo Maresca tactics.
This combination of comfort on the ball alongside stellar shot-stopping numbers is not easy to find.
Djordje Petrović Tactics In-Possession
Our next section of analysis focuses purely on Petrović’s role in possession.
We use in-game images from Strasbourg’s most recent Ligue 1 clash—a 4-2 home win over Lyon—to help explain the player’s impact.
Petrović consistently offered his backline a passing option and pushed outside his box to act as a left centre-back in his team’s build-up play versus Olympique Lyon this past Friday, providing an excellent example of how he’s been so involved in his team’s possession play this term.
Rosenior trusts Petrović to essentially become an additional centre-back for his team during the build-up, helping outnumber the opposition’s forwards during that phase of play.
Petrović’s advancement allows an additional player—in this case, attacking left-back Diego Moreira—to move further upfield.
With this strategy, Strasbourg ultimately aim to overwhelm the opponent with an extra outfield player.
On Friday, Lyon pressed with a four-man front line, comprising a centre-forward, a ‘10’, and two wingers.
With Petrović pushing out into the backline, Strasbourg also formed a four-man backline comprised of right-back Guéla Doué, right centre-back Mamadou Sarr, Petrović himself, and actual left centre-back Ismaël Doukouré.
This would create numerical parity between the attacking and defensive sides, seemingly making it difficult for Strasbourg to progress.
However, when one member of Lyon’s pressing frontline—like Rayan Cherki in Figure 5— stepped up to press one of Strasbourg’s backline—Petrović, in this case—one of Strasbourg’s holding midfielders—in our example, Valentín Barco—would drop into the resulting space, creating a triangle with two members of Strasbourg’s backline and opening up an intelligent path to quick ball progression.
Meanwhile, Strasbourg’s left-back Moreira enjoyed the freedom to position himself higher on the wing and offer width for his team in attack, effectively creating another problem for the opponent to be aware of.
This highlights the advantages and tactical creativity that a goalkeeper like Petrović, who’s comfortable on the ball, can offer a team in the build-up phase.
Petrović mainly played simple short passes against Lyon but did get a chance to showcase his passing range on a few occasions.
Figure 7 above shows an example of a time when Petrović had time and space to get his head up on the ball versus Lyon and prepare a long-range ball.
The long ball falls perfectly onto Dilane Bakwa’s chest, allowing the winger to take it down and carry forward into Lyon’s half, putting the away side on the back foot.
This passage of play highlights Petrović’s vision, the technical passing quality in his locker, and his great decision-making regarding pass selection.
He also has a solid level of knowledge of his ability to take on the pass and execute it so well—all aspects of the player’s game that will delight anyone involved with Chelsea.
Petrović will occasionally blunder on the ball and did so at one point in this game when trying to pass it long first time under pressure, leading to a miskick.
However, he’s generally proven very reliable in a demanding on-the-ball role this term, adding quality and tactical flexibility to Liam Rosenior’s team.
Djordje Petrović Tactics Out Of Possession
Let’s not overlook the fact that Petrović is, indeed, a goalkeeper.
Thus, his work without the ball and focus on keeping it out of his team’s net is ultimately where his wages are primarily earned.
Our next section of analysis focuses on Petrović’s goalkeeping, again using in-game examples from his performance versus Lyon on Friday.
We’ve already addressed Petrović’s impressive shot-stopping numbers with data.
Much of this comes down to his impressive positioning, diving, and handling, all of which have been of high quality at Stade de la Meinau this term.
However, in addition to this, the 25-year-old Serb has helped to prevent shots that could’ve added even more to his team’s worrying xGA numbers in the first place through a couple of vital parts of his role for Le Racing under Rosenior.
At 194 cm, Petrović has a quite notable presence.
He’s not at all afraid to use his stature to get off his line and actively claim threatening crosses that could lead to a chance for the opponent.
Here in Figure 9, Petrović decides to begin coming out of his box to try and claim a dangerous ball headed towards the back post—a move Lyon used on a few occasions in this game to trouble Strasbourg.
As the play moves on, Petrović ultimately commands his box well and gets out in front of the intended receiver to claim this cross and proactively deny what could’ve been a very good-headed opportunity for Lyon.
On Friday, Strasbourg’s centre-backs sometimes stepped out and pressed Lyon players inside their own half in the high-block phase of defence, weakening the backline and creating space for OL to potentially exploit, as was the case when Sarr got exposed in the passage of play above.
Petrović had to be alert and ready to sweep up behind his team’s high line, and the Serb typically performed that role reliably on Friday thanks to some decent pace and, crucially, good anticipation and willingness to get out off his line and protect the exposed space in behind Strasbourg’s defence.
Conclusion
To conclude our player analysis and scout report, Djordje Petrović’s on-the-ball and off-the-ball contributions have been vital to Strasbourg’s Champions League push in 2024/25.
In possession, the goalkeeper has offered quality and tactical versatility to Liam Rosenior, and he’s done the same off the ball through his shot-stopping abilities and his comfort in getting out off his line.
Petrović is genuinely a versatile, ‘modern’ goalkeeper in every sense of the word who’s undoubtedly destined for a lengthy career at the top of the game—whether that’s with Chelsea on his return in the summer or elsewhere, which remains to be seen.
In any case, he’s given a very good account of himself in Ligue 1 this season and done his reputation no harm through his loan spell with Strasbourg.
