Lionel Messi - A Different Class
With the Champions League group stages kicking off proper this week, we thought we'd take a closer look at the player who has dominated the tournament for the last three seasons. Lionel Messi has inspired Barcelona to two Champions League titles in the last three years, and these statistics might prove just what makes him so good.
Last season, Lionel Messi became the first ever player to finish outright Champions League top scorer in three consecutive seasons, with statistics leaving opponents in his wake. The double Ballon d Or winner is now Barcelona s most prolific goal scorer in European competitions, so the stat guru's at Castrol EDGE have been analysing Messi's performances and all 37 of his Champions League goals.
Taking the 2010/11 Champions League season into isolation, Lionel Messi was the most dangerous player with the ball at his feet completing more successful dribbles than any other player. By dividing the overall dribbles completed by the games played, Castrol EDGE Performance data shows that Messi completed six dribbles per game last season.
A higher average than any other player who took part in the competition in 2010/11, and surpassing fellow dribble masters Arjen Robben, Luis Suarez and Gareth Bale. Interestingly, four of the five players in the top five are left-footed, the only exception being Suarez.
Even more interesting is when you analyse all of Messi's goals in the competition, as it gives us a clue when, where and how Messi is at his most dangerous. Not surprisingly, the lion's share of Messi's goals have come from his left foot and are inside the area. So for any defender reading who has to face Messi, just keep him outside the area and on his right foot, oh and good luck!
The timing of Messi's goals really grabbed our attention though, with the Barcelona forward at his most lethal in the latter minutes of the halves. In particular the last 30 minutes of the game, when he has net 20 of his 37 Champions League goals.
Exciting statistics indeed, especially when you consider Messi appeared to debut a new F50 adizero football boot, which incorporated some kind of data chip to analyse performance, which would certainly make for interesting reading!
Is Messi once again the man to look out for in the Champions League? Share your thoughts with the SoccerBible community online.
