This is what that .199 GAA looks like: In other words, if Barca-Messi and Argentina-Messi were two different people, even based solely on the stats recorded since 2010, theres a good chance theyd be the two best players in the world. How does that compare with other soccer stars across top leagues around the world? "@trueBianconeri @TeamCRonaldo Making more touches and more passes means you are more influential on a game. In the 61st minute Messi scored on a 32-yard free kick. Midfielders such as Iker Muniain (Athletic Bilbao), Amadou Haidara (RB Leipzig) and John McGinn (Aston Villa) rise through the ranks, highlighting their greater tendency to play the ball forward when given equal opportunity. I think this criticism is fair and I found it intriguing enough to look into the matter myself. Even Ronaldo's great rival Lionel Messi, who is often highlighted for his lack of defensive work and for walking around the pitch, is averaging 5.3 miles per game. Now lets plot that added value against each players13 total offensive participation (the percentage of team shots hes involved with): Finally, after however many charts, we see a diminishing return. living fire begets cold, impotent ash luka doncic euroleague accolades messi average touches per game 07 jun 2022. messi average touches per gamerelationship between tiger shark and green sea turtle PIT. Follow Mark on Twitter @MarkCarey93, genie is well and truly out of the bottle when it comes to data in football. And among Messi's 843 touches . 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. Everyone wants to learn the secret behind Messis amazing ability on the soccer ball and his overall touch, even Ronaldo. If we want to explore a players efficiency, we have to look into his touches more deeply. Were used to seeing him provide dazzling passes, incisive shots and glamorous dribbles, but we shouldnt be afraid to keep our eyes on him even when the ball is elsewhere, and especially if he is moving slowly. Altman explains how to find more signal among the noise. His Non-Penalty xG per 90 minutes is 0.51. Throughout his career, Messi has been criticized for walking. Thats the ultimate test, juggle the ball when a defender is sprinting at you in front of 90,000 people at the Camp Nou. As he battles to cement his reputation this summer, Messi will be under more scrutiny than ever before. In attacking territory, no one attacks as often as Messi does, and no one has more success doing so. 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). 2023 ABC News Internet Ventures. ESPN Enterprises, Inc. All rights reserved. (Ill get more into how we can account for loss of possession in the touch-by-touch analysis later.). Dungoyne vs. Carniny, League Game (30 minutes each way) Played in midfield for duration of game on wing. Do you like to eat green eggs and ham while youre juggle? Full Site Menu. He had 230 goals, and 59 assists in that time, for 289 combined goals and assists. Kylian Mbappe-Lottin averages 34 passes per match with a pass completion rate of 83%, and has 2 assists. Argentina (25) And he doesnt go for (or succeed at) a lot of aerials (50-50 balls in the air). Messi loves his left foot, shooting with it 78 percent of the time, and scoring 23 percent. He writes about soccer through an analytical lens, with a particular interest in team tactics. If a meter is on average 1.33 steps, Messi takes 10,921 steps per match. Who is currently the best striker in the Premier League? The phrase high-value locations refers to another part of their research that quantified how much areas of the pitch are worth to either team. You either have grace, or youdont. Of the 65 shots, 39 shots were on target and the other 26 shots were off target. Among Maradona's, 66.8 were touches. Looking into his passing aspect of the game, Messi Cuccittini passes the ball roughly 59.25 times during a game with a pass completion rate of 83.45%. Instead, they took the novel approach of extracting the value of space based on the behavior of the defending team. taking them closer to the goal, at a better angle, amid fewer defenders, etc. Lionel Messi hasn't received any bookings (yellow cards or red cards) during this Ligue 1 season. Messi finished with 68 touches, his fewest in a league match against Real Madrid in the last three years. 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. If that partly due to the . Ronaldo, with more than twice as many shots, ran just 5.5 goals above expectation, and no one but Messi is higher than 7.5 goals. There can be many reasons To save his energy and utilize This doesnt mean they are not proficient progressive passers, but simply that such actions are not attempted as frequently as the per 90 comparison suggests. Perhaps thats an unfair comparison to make but its consistent with the theory that Barcelonas play keep away until lightning strikes offense really only works when it has Messi as its striker. (And in the seven games Messi missed, they went 6-1.) But put one check-mark in Ronaldos column, as he has scored on 93 percent of his penalty attempts. All rights reserved. As outlined in The Athletics football analytics glossary, this is a crucial adjustment so that a fair comparison can be made between players for the time they are on the pitch. He has scored in every game so far (four goals overall), including one on a beautiful free kick against Nigeria and the aforementioned game-winner against Iran. Show only players who played a minimum of: Copyright 2018 - 2023, Footballcritic Inc. All right reserved. So a useful metric (made possible by play-by-play data) is the percentage of a players passes that lead to successful plays on the other end meaning the receiving player manages to get off a shot, or passes the ball to someone else, and so on. But even when hes walking, new research suggests, hes far from idle. 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. Risking a turnover to increase your chances of scoring a goal even by a small amount can be worth it. Super Bowl . The play-by-play data lists assisters on several plays that are nonetheless designated as individual plays and for which no one was awarded an assist. This also somewhat neutralizes any statistical advantage for players who play for pass-happy teams like Barcelona. 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. Lionel Messi (26) Messi has seen his wealth rocket since he became the highest-paid La Lig player in 2017. In seven games against Real Madrid in La Liga and UEFA Champions League the last three seasons this was the only match in which he failed to create a scoring chance. There is no right or wrong number of touches that a forward should have, but having a standardised measure across all players highlights their tendency to perform a certain action when given an equal opportunity to do so. Hitchman Conacher Heinrich 0 0.00 0.00 0.00. Lionel Messi has assisted 12 goals in 20 matches so far in the Ligue 1 2022/2023 season. Two Point Conversion Attempts per Game. We can also see whether they do that actively, by running into open spaces, or passively, by staying in high-value locations while the play shifts away.. Only Mesut Ozil and Franck Ribery8 earned more assists than Messi, and Ozil did it on Real Madrid9 setting up Cristiano Ronaldo. Meanwhile, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyangs style shone through during his time at Arsenal and Barcelona last season the man simply shoots frequently. Ronaldo scored .139 goals per attempt, so he had .015 GAA per goal. Born in 1987, Lionel Messi is regarded as one of the greatest players of the modern era. They were adept at long passes when the short passing game wasn't getting it done, . Inter Milan defeated AC Milan, 1-0 in Italian Serie A derby play. Ronaldo gains .023, and the average player is slightly negative at -.004 GAA. But it's also his drive and desire to win and love for the game that makes him so great. And the 2013-14 season hasnt helped: Battling minor injuries and facing competition for touches from superstar arrival Neymar, Messis most recent season was slightly below par by his standards, yet Barca finished second in La Liga. Of these, Messi Cuccittini scored 87 pens while missing 25. Whether Messi consciously decides to go against the run of play with his movement is difficult to ascertain. Ive excluded other set-piece attempts because theyre very dependent on each players role on his team. Just like Iniesta said once: "Messi's worst game is the best someone else can perform". The highest-volume shooter who is more efficient is Mario Gomez, the former Bayern Munich striker, who takes about two-thirds as many shots as Messi. The Liverpool and Tottenham stars have finished level in the final goalscoring standings for England's top flight this season. Overall, Lionel Messi's goals scored per 90 minutes is 0.61. Why Valentina Shevchenko Is A Huge Favorite And Jon Jones Isnt At UFC 285, Illustration by Linda Tran Tutovan / Getty images, Jun. Considering he's also two years younger, he has a better chance of. In the current season for PSG Lionel Messi gave a total of 57 shots, of which 37 were shots on goal. He scores a goal for every 3.25 shots he takes and takes 2.23 shots per 90 minutes on the pitch. Just ask Patrice Evra or check out the video below. The ball is never too far away from Messi, very rarely if ever. In fact, the more involved Messi is in a shot attempt, the more likely his team is to score. All Players Most Touches per 90 Minutes - 2020/2021 Season Below is a list of All Players with the Most Touches per 90 Minutes in the Premier League in the 2020/2021 Season. Looking per 100 touches is not the only alternative method. Many will be familiar with some of the adjustments already made within player data. Prior to this year, I used full season stats which can be . Ibrahimovic The crux of my research is based on play-by-play data (plus x-y coordinates) from ESPNs partnership with the sports data companies Opta and TruMedia. "per 90 minutes", "per 100 touches", or "per minute in possession" cannot be underestimated as Dan Altman, creator of smarterscou t, highlights.. Last season, the average touches for a forward player (with at least 900 minutes played) in the Premier League was 42.2 touches per 90, but that ranged from 24.6 to 70.7 per 90. At least for everyone not named Lionel Messi. [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 As a fully fledged member of the no-touch All-Stars, one name near the top of the list aligns with Altmans example perfectly. In the Bundesliga, he consistently outperformed his expected goals. And even though the above searcher ended up at a page about a Manchester United DVD, they would come to see theres plenty of soccer articles and video clips about the young Argentine on our soccer website about his incredible touch on the soccer ball. Is a Saudi Arabia exhibition a sad ending for Messi vs. Ronaldo? I treated all such shots as unassisted, even if another players assistance was noted. FootyStats - Built with Love for The Beautiful Game. That goal was quintessential Messi: He got the ball on the right side of the field, held it for a few seconds, broke to the middle and in heavy traffic swerved it in on off his left foot. 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 Messi, meanwhile, scores at a remarkable rate. Its generally harder to stay valuable over a larger number of shots, and we havent yet factored in that difficulty. Hes the best soccer player in the world. 2 . Extra Points Made per Game. Messi leads the world with 21 goals from outside the penalty area, on just 173 shot attempts. EPL. 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 173rd), and hes by far the most efficient of anyone with a similar shot volume. Halfbacks peak at around 8.5 kms per game with forwards notching up about six. The three of them, in Barcelonas devastating 4-3-3, would spread out wide across the pitch, forcing defenders to follow them. 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. Lionel Messi has taken 29 shots in 7 matches so far in the Ligue 1 2022/2023 season. 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. 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. Ronaldo 179.1 Minutes Per Goal. The overall penalty conversion rate for Messi Cuccittini is 77.68%. First, to ensure that were celebrating the greatness of Messi and not the greatness of Barcelona, we need to make sense of Messi on Barcelona. @BobbyGardiner, 2018 World Cup (41 posts) CORRECTION (July 1, 12:32 p.m.): The axes in an earlier version of the chart on through-balls above misstated what they measured. And Messi scores a lot of them. Getting denominators right is one of the most important and yet most often ignored parts of the analysis process. The 100-minute matches that became routine at the World Cup in Qatar are set to become routine in club soccer, FIFA's rule-making panel said Saturday. Messi has an average of 80 touches per game while having similar goals to Ronaldo" A rudimentary measure would simply be distance to goal, but after discussions with experts at Barcelona, Fernandez and Bornn realized that the value of space in soccer changes dynamically based on the positions of the players and the ball. 5. Lewandowski is still near the top, but the top 20 is filled more with out-and-out No 9s whose role is to shoot frequently with the touches they have. He runs an average of 8'727 kilometres each game. Yet when they did have it, they were incredibly efficient. Check out our latest World Cup predictions. But thats just what happens once the shots are lined up. He also has better defensive stats for Argentina, so even if there are persistent differences, its quite possible it has to do with style and Messis role on each team rather than the quality of his play. Juventus coach Max Allegri was delighted with their Derby della Mole victory over Torino on Tuesday. For example, if the player scored .02 goals above expectation per shot attempt, and the rest of his team scored -.01 goals less than expectation, that players value-added would be +.03 goals per shot (the value above replacement for that player on that team). Ill discuss those separately. How do you get the touch and control of Messi? The England captain has the worst touches for any forward on the list. 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. Ronaldo 0.40 Goals Per Game. Only 5 percent of his kicks are strong ones (compared to 8 percent for all players), but those kicks score 36 percent of the time, and have .251 GAA each! This sounds like a great strategy, but theres a reason it isnt employed universally: To make it work, a team has to be stocked with amazing passers, and it has to have strikers capable of creating chances against set defenses.10. The England captain has the worst touches for any forward on the list. Windfall tax on diesel slashed to Rs 0.50 per litre, nil on ATF; Foxconn likely to invest in Karnataka, says CM Basavaraj Bommai; BJP wins Tripura, but with all-round fall in tally, vote share, average winning margin; CUET Toppers' Tips: Here's how CUET is different from CBSE Class 12 exams, 100 percentile scorer explains