But how does he do it? Which is to say, players whove logged 100-plus games, taken an average of three or more shots per game, and whove made at least 50 percent of their touches in the attacking third. PIT. Halfbacks peak at around 8.5 kms per game with forwards notching up about six. Messi 0.76 Goals Per Game. Season. Below is a list of All Players with the Most Touches per 90 Minutes in the Premier League in the 2020/2021 Season. Messi and Ronaldo have been compared to each other so often by sports media and fans alike that it almost feels trite to compare them again, but it cant be helped. Messi is one of only three players in La Liga in the last three years to score a goal against Real Madrid from a free kick (Santi Cazorla and Marcos Senna are the others). And then in a snap, the ball is on his thigh and back at his feet nearly immediately. If you want to get the touch of Messi youve got to spend time with the soccer ball and make it do want you want it to do, and not the other way around. Ronaldo isn't top 3, Pele, Messi and Maradona, he is way less influential in a game, just look at their average touches per game. Because Messi takes shots that are more likely to go in, his average attempt has an expectation of .182 goals, while the average Ronaldo shot has an expectation of .124 goals so we would expect Messis shooting to be more efficient based on that alone. It also points to the main stylistic difference between Messi and Ronaldo: Ronaldo takes more mid-range shots but misses a lot of them; Messi tries to beat a lot more defenders, loses sometimes, and then makes up for it (and then some) by having better assisting and shooting opportunities as a result. Theyre not doing a search for tips on how to play like Cristiano Ronaldo, but just want to wear the same hair gel he does and get going on those crunches so they have a six pack just like him. He also plays 2.66 key passes each game which leads to significant scoring chances. The fiel, Soccer Training Info - Theme by Grace Themes, 10 reasons to attend summer soccer camps by Coerver Coaching, 6 reasons to attend a Coerver Residential Camp, The SenseBall: Improve Your Soccer Skills, Mental Training Focus for Soccer Players, New Live Virtual Coerver Coaching Training Course, Klinsmann named head coach of South Korea, Man City with a convincing win following a crazy week, Chelsea signs Enzo Fernandez for $131 million. There can be many reasons To save his energy and utilize For this purpose, I created a stat called possessions used. Its a little bit analogous to usage rate in basketball, and incorporates the number of touches in which a player: In other words, its a stat meant to reflect anything that ends a teams possession, whether that outcome is positive or negative. How do you get the touch and control of Messi? Adjusting for shot quality with the GAA model, Messi is running 12.6 goals above expectation (based on shot-by-shot expectation, not the trend line in the chart). Its not possible to score on unassisted plays as well as the best players in the world score on assisted ones. There wasnt really anyone that Manchester they could throw at Messi to contain him. You either have grace, or youdont. He has an average GAA of .026 on those kicks (all players: 5 percent shooting on weak kicks with -.055 GAA). Lionel Andrs Messi Cuccittini Position: FW-MF (AM-WM) Footed: Left 170cm , 72kg (5-6, 159lb) Born: June 24, 1987 in Rosario, Argentina ar More Player Info 7x Ballon d'Or 3x The Best FIFA Men's Player 2x UEFA Men's Player of the Year Award 8x La Liga Best Player 11x Domestic League Champion 4x Champions League Champion But dont sleep on his right foot: When he uses it, he scores 23 percent of the time. On the other side, the Sounders lead the league in completion percentage on open-play crosses at 26.3 percent and are tied for the most scoring chances created from them with 65. Moreover, on unassisted shots he shoots nearly 10 percent and .044 GAA better than the next best player (Sergio Aguero for Manchester City) does, despite taking the fourth-most such shots of the 28 players in the group. Red Zone Scores per Game (TDs only) Red Zone Scoring Percentage (TD only) Extra Point Attempts per Game. But take a look at some of his early feats. Remarkably, in about 66 percent of the moments Messi won control of valuable space, he was walking. He agreed to new terms as he committed himself to the Catalan club until 2012. There are 47 players with 50 or more attempts from outside the box without a single goal, and about 500 with at least 20 attempts and no goals. He is the top scorer of all time in Spains La Liga, and this season, his performances have been characteristically devastating: Lionel Messis performance in the 2017-18 La Liga season, * Among attackers with minimum 850 minutes played. To generalize a bit, some of the value a shooter provides comes from taking more and better shots (e.g. Messi finished with 68 touches, his fewest in a league match against Real Madrid in the last three years. Lionel Messi has taken 29 shots in 7 matches so far in the Ligue 1 2022/2023 season. 12:00 PM. Hitchman Conacher Heinrich 0 0.00 0.00 0.00. Barca's captain currently has: 823 Games - 671 Goals = 0.82 goals-per-game. In fact, the 25-year-old Belgian international came fifth on the list. Content on this website is not advice and should only be used as reference. when the player does something possession-ending.14 Looking at players who use more than 15 possessions per game, we can plot possessions used against scoring and assists like so: Cutting out all the passing that doesnt end in a shot, Messi generates the most points per touch of any player with a similar usage rate. For its data, AMK has picked the following 11 forwards from the league: While the Manchester United striker is often targeted for his poor touch, he's not the worst person on the chart. Adjusting players shots per 100 touches shuffles the pack neatly. Ill discuss those separately. Lionel Messi is a Forward who has appeared in 20 matches this season in Ligue 1, playing a total of 1762 minutes. Kylian Mbappe-Lottin has received 4 yellow cards and 0 red cards. Gabriel Jesus, who Haaland has effectively replaced, had 73. Of the 866 players who qualified for that plot by playing in 50-plus games and averaging at least one shot attempt per game Messi is the ninth-most efficient shooter overall (Ronaldo is. In the Bundesliga, he consistently outperformed his expected goals. 2 . Passes completed Lionel Messi is 83 percent . But there are a couple of other important things to notice in this graph: Despite not taking as many shots, Messi uses more possessions per game than Ronaldo does. Ronaldo did score on his only two touches in the Barcelona penalty area and finished without a turnover, the first time he hasnt turned the ball over against Barcelona in a league game in the last three years. Importantly, turnovers in soccer arent as big of a deal as they are in basketball or American football. David Luiz Brazilian footballer Luiz is an important footballer for PSG. (He is also relatively more likely to set up a potential assist.). Thats not to say one approach is better than the other, but note that it means that the observed shooting gap between them is at least somewhat exaggerated. But put one check-mark in Ronaldos column, as he has scored on 93 percent of his penalty attempts. FootyStats - Built with Love for The Beautiful Game. Lionel Messi's teammates at the club level, Lionel Messi's teammates at the international level. Messi loves his left foot, shooting with it 78 percent of the time, and scoring 23 percent. Argentina (25) Who is currently the best striker in the Premier League? They were adept at long passes when the short passing game wasn't getting it done, . And thats just the stuff that made it into this article. He maintains a quiet sort of confidence, a focus and always seems to play the right waymeaning theres a method to his genius, if he doesnt pull something off you still see what hes trying to do. Return to Top; Players. Among players who played 100 games with two or more shots per game and one or more chance created per game. But thats just what happens once the shots are lined up. Ive excluded other set-piece attempts because theyre very dependent on each players role on his team. And this isnt just some run of the mill defender, this is Evra, one of the great defenders in the game. Heres a comparison of the top 20 shot-takers overall (regular shots in all games since the 2010 World Cup): In this group, Messi both takes the best shots and does the most with those attempts. Lets clarify what that would mean with an example. For example, Ronaldos success rate of 60 percent beats Messis 54 percent (with a slightly lower completion percentage), but Ronaldo has only 35 successful long ball passes to Messis 81. Finally, Messis defense is consistent with that of a high-volume striker.15 That hes practically munchkin-sized (hes only 1.69 met ahem, excuse me 5 7 tall) seems not to matter. Find here all the latest Transfer News and rumours of the Premier League. All rights reserved. Meanwhile, Lionel Messi has scored 759 goals in 957 games (0.79 goals per game). You check out how all 11 strikers ranked below. Our content is not intended for an audience under 18 years of age. In the 12 years since he became the youngest Argentine to score a World Cup goal, Lionel Messi has won more Ballon dOr trophies, awarded to the worlds best player, than anyone before him.1 He has scored more official goals in a calendar year than anyone in living memory. However, Messi has also exceeded that expectation by a greater amount than Ronaldo has. [Pressures by zones, #MUFC in all comps 21/22] - Like last season, Fred (mainly mid 3rd) followed by Bruno (mainly att 3rd) remain the highest pressers He scores a goal for every 5.42 shots he takes and takes 3.32 shots per 90 minutes on the pitch. In his early seasons he averaged around 65 to 68% but became a consistent 70% man . Of the 29 shots, 18 shots were on target and the other 11 shots were off target. Plus he did it all without an assist. Soccer is fundamentally a game of space and movement, so Bornn and Fernandez devised models using positional data that evaluate the occupation and generation of space by players. (Ill get more into how we can account for loss of possession in the touch-by-touch analysis later.). This attacking performance currently places him at 15th out of 408 for Ligue 1 Players who've played at least 3 matches.This player scored a total of 12 goals so far in the season in the league, which places him at 3rd in the PSG squad's Top Scorers list. To assess all players equally, we can adjust defensive statistics by counting the number of times they make those actions for every 1,000 opponent touches rather than in total. Answer (1 of 2): Most of Messi's performances are outstanding. Whether Messi consciously decides to go against the run of play with his movement is difficult to ascertain. So I'd rather talk about the 5 worst performances with no order. Bentancur did all the hard work as they say. As the primary striker for such a juggernaut, it can be hard to detangle Messis goal-scoring prowess from Barcelonas general offensive dominance. There are a few lines where Messis stats are considerably worse than his peers (meaning Ronaldos): He doesnt get a lot of clearances although this is partly style, as Messi is more willing to pass out of defensive territory (or even take on defenders). The average number of touches for the starting XI that day was 95. Not better or worse, but once again a stylistic indication of what a player looks to do more or less of when they do have the ball. This puts Messi Cuccittini's npxG output at 9.90 which puts him in the top 99 percentile of Ligue 1 players. The truth is, who doesnt want control like Messi and to know how to develop that ball tethered to the foot control that he possesses? Behind him sat players from similarly high-possession sides, with Mohamed Salah (Liverpool), Zlatan Ibrahimovic (AC Milan), Kylian Mbappe (PSG) and Karim Benzema (Real Madrid) among the prolific cohort. Last season his average was 0.28 goals per game, he scored 12 goals in 43 club matches. Of 8,335 players in our dataset who have taken at least one shot from outside the box, only 1,835 have scored from that distance at any point. Despite having 407 career goals in club and international play (including a record 91 in 2012 alone) and a record four Ballon dOr (World Player of the Year) awards, until this years tournament, Messi hadnt scored in a World Cup match since 2006. Full Site Menu. 1 Alabama and No. Touches are differentiated from passes, shots and other ball events in that the player controls the ball and looks to retain individual possession. Lionel Messi has taken 13 shots in 6 matches so far in the Ligue 1 2022/2023 season. On direct free kicks (like the one he scored on against Nigeria), Messi has scored about 8 percent of the time (compared to all players 5 percent), with .021 GAA per shot (Ronaldo has scored on 7 percent with an identical .021 GAA). How should Argentina fans feel about all this, given the disappointment theyve experienced in World Cups past and the hopes theyve pinned on Messi this year? Throughout his career, Messi has been criticized for walking. Across Europes top five leagues last season, mapping players with the top 20 shots per 90 will pull up many of the usual suspects. 5 of the 12 goals were scored at home while he scored 7 goals at away games. Do you like to eat green eggs and ham while youre juggle? Despite his young age he turned 27 on June 24 Messi has taken substantial criticism in Argentina and elsewhere for failing to engineer a World Cup run like that of the man with the Hand of God.. Messi 116.0 Minutes Per Goal. To answer that, youd probably have to ask the man himself.. Lionel Messi hasn't received any bookings (yellow cards or red cards) during this Ligue 1 season. Cristiano Ronaldo's 31 touches were his fewest in a La . To look at Messis defensive skill, I combined successful tackles,16 interceptions and blocked shots, then adjusted for number of opponent possessions (as I did with offense above). Weve known this trait of Messis for quite some time: In 2014 World Cup coverage, Ken Early remarked that only Messi has figured out how to win matches by moving less than everyone else. Benjamin Morris wrote about the phenomenon for FiveThirtyEight after Argentina lost to Germany in the final. Lionel Messi scores an average of 0.61 goals for every 90 minutes that the player is on the pitch. Looking per 100 touches is not the only alternative method. Put simply, a player can only perform a defensive action (e.g. Messi is averaging 63.8 passes per 90 minutes (his highest rate since 2011 . But in soccer, unlike in basketball, shooting efficiency isnt the single most important stat. But he mostly uses his feet. Meanwhile, Barcelona shots that didnt come from Messis foot12 or Messis passing scored just 12.5 percent of the time. By now Ive studied nearly every aspect of Messis game, down to a touch-by-touch level: his shooting and scoring production; where he shoots from; how often he sets up his own shots; what kind of kicks he uses to make those shots; his ability to take on defenders; how accurate his passes are; the kind of passes he makes; how often he creates scoring chances; how often those chances lead to goals; even how his defensive playmaking compares to other high-volume shooters. From this, we can tell whether a player has exceeded expectations for all of his shot attempts and chances created. Since the value of a possession in soccer is much lower, so is the cost of missing a shot (and missed shots often have good outcomes as well). 2019. 80 touches. Minutes Per Goal. Argentina (25) 2014/2015, 2010/2011, 2008/2009, 2005/2006, 2018/2019, 2017/2018, 2015/2016, 2014/2015, 2012/2013, 2010/2011, 2009/2010, 2008/2009, 2005/2006, 2004/2005, 2019/2020, 2016/2017, 2013/2014, 2011/2012, 2006/2007, 2020/2021, 2017/2018, 2016/2017, 2015/2016, 2014/2015, 2011/2012, 2008/2009, 2018/2019, 2016/2017, 2013/2014, 2011/2012, 2010/2011, 2009/2010, 2006/2007, 2005/2006, 2020/2021, 2017/2018, 2015/2016, 2012/2013, FootyStats is your best resource for stats such as Goals, Over 2.5/Under 2.5, HT/FT, Dynamic In-Play Stats, and much more. Since assist-related stats tend to be dependent on a teams offensive system, for this chart Ive grouped shots by team, so it only includes Messis shots for Barcelona and Ronaldos for Real Madrid. At the aggregate level, defenders will look to cut off the areas that are most dangerous relative to where the ball is. @skepticalsports, World Cup (125 posts) Its not possible to shoot more efficiently from outside the penalty area than many players shoot inside it. In the Champions League, Manchester United may have beaten Barcelona but there was a lot of talk about Messis magic. It doesnt help if a player passes 60 yards to someone swarmed with defenders. Mark Carey is a Data Analyst for The Athletic. at Many will be familiar with some of the adjustments already made within player data. Ibrahimovic The question is, should we account for this opportunity in the same way from an attacking perspective? The Timbers have struggled this season to play the ball from wide positions as they have the second-lowest completion percentage (17.1 percent) on open-play crosses this season. That doesn't include his . Messi milestone tracker: PSG star nears 800 career goals, plus ALL his records, Alaba racially abused over Messi FIFA Best vote, Messi beats Mbappe to Best FIFA Men's award, Arsenal grind out win, Bayern back on track, Messi milestone: Weekend Review, Xavi reacts to chance of Barca return for Messi, Messi's last-gasp free kick seals 4-3 win for PSG, Messi unlikely to make Barca return, father says. Shots, even bad ones, are more of a limited resource in soccer than possessions. Perhaps this year will be different. If we want to explore a players efficiency, we have to look into his touches more deeply. That means that Messi Cuccittini's shooting accuracy is 62.07%. Now, if Messi scores with his hand or does another maze run versus England in a future World Cup, well all roll over in disbelief. . Ronaldo scored .139 goals per attempt, so he had .015 GAA per goal. In the FIFA World Cup season 2022, Lionel Messi played 7 matches. Lionel Messis touch on the soccer ball is what makes him the greatest player to ever play the game. The Bayern striker has claimed glory in the award for a second straight year and some big name rivals were also prominent in the European golden boot race. But I bet even Cristiano wishes he had Messis touch on the soccer ball. Messi has scored on 86 percent of his penalty kicks, versus an average of 77 percent for all players. After an El Clasico match between Barcelona and Real Madrid in December 2017, there was widespread coverage of the fact that Messi. He scores a goal for every 4.14 shots he takes and takes 3.78 shots per 90 minutes on the pitch. Touchdowns per Game. As it turns out, not only does Messi pass the ball forward aggressively, he does so accurately, and the balls he delivers are successful a very high percentage of the time. "@trueBianconeri @TeamCRonaldo Making more touches and more passes means you are more influential on a game. Sead Kolasinac ( Arsenal) - 27.0 7. The pressure doesnt get to him. Well, the secret or short cut is hard work and love for the game. How does that compare with other soccer stars across top leagues around the world? ESPN gives you the data.