Alisson, Courtois, Ederson: Champions League goalkeepers ranked by goals prevented

Who is the Champions League’s best goalkeeper?

Jan Oblak and Manuel Neuer have both been the answer during their peaks, but the likes of Alisson Becker and Ederson have since climbed up the rungs and arguably usurped them with their distribution excellence.

However, there’s an argument to be had that the next generation is breathing down their neck with Gianluigi Donnarumma going from strength to strength and Anatolii Trubin making waves with Shakhtar Donetsk.

And lest we forget the Manchester United-linked Diogo Costa, who might well be competing for the title in just a few seasons' time having made Champions League history with his masterclass at Bayer Leverkusen.

Either way, though, let's pause the discussion there for a second because it quickly becomes clear that trying to answer the debate in a wholly subjective manner quickly leads to an impasse.

Rather, let's turn to the statistics to try and answer the question, because there's ultimately only so much a shot-stopper can ever hide from the numbers that define their performance levels.

And of all the many data sets that goalkeepers are judged against these days, arguably none of them are quite as fascinating as the so-called 'goals prevented' metric which often serves as a gauge for shot-stopping performances.

It's a loose term to describe the difference between the actual total of goals that a 'keeper has conceded and how many they were expected to let in based on statistical modelling assessing the quality of the shots in question.

To assess this, we've called upon the data gurus at FBref who monitor this statistic by way of taking post-shot expected goals minus goals conceded, excluding own goals but including penalties.

In other words, if Thibaut Courtois,