the scientific explanation that the Champions League is not won by “luck”

Javier Santaolaladoctor in Particle Physics and scientific communicator who in recent years has gained great popularity on social networks, used his platform to explain whether Real Madrid has won the Champions League luckily.

Santaolalla, who in July 2019 was in Guatemala at the International Book Fair (Filgua), has more than 3 million followers on TikTok and more than one million on Instagram.

The 40-year-old scientist began his virtual career on YouTube, where he has the channels Give yourself a volt and Give yourself a Vlog; there also accumulates a few million subscribers.

His peculiar and fun way of explaining science has allowed him to have a great reach with Internet users who are not specifically focused on that subject, such as soccer lovers.

On this occasion, Santaolalla explained in a video if you win the Champions League it’s a matter of luck or notafter hearing the statements of Xavi Hernandez (and Leo Messi)which ensured that this title is not always won by the best team.

Instead, Daniel Carvajalpointed out emphatically and in response to the FC Barcelona coach and to the PSG playerthat if 5 of the last 9 editions are won, It’s not a matter of luck.

In that context, Santaolalla He pointed out: “Is Xavi or Carvajal right? well maybe mathematics can help us: ‘Throw a die 100 times and the number six comes up 100 times. Luck or something else? Can this question be answered with science? The answer is yes, science has a clear answer to this question.’”

The explanation continues: “It is nothing more than comparing the number of times that it has come up six, the number of times that one could expect it to come up six according to the probability and seeing if the distance is too much. If that jump exceeds a margin, a limit, we scientists realize that it’s not about luck; there must be something more“.

Javier Santaolalla, who was part of the team that discovered the Higgs boson, explained that “the Real Madrid has won 5 of the last 9 Champions, being 32 the teams that are presented. The hope of victory would be 9÷32= 0.28; however, he has won 5. The distance between the expected value (0.28) and the number 5 is so, so big that I’m sorry Xavi, we can’t resort to luck or details, there has to be something else” .