Lionel Messi: Fascinating graph compares PSG star to Haaland, Mbappe, Neymar | OneFootball

Lionel Messi: Fascinating graph compares PSG star to Haaland, Mbappe, Neymar | OneFootball

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·10 November 2022

Lionel Messi: Fascinating graph compares PSG star to Haaland, Mbappe, Neymar

Article image:Lionel Messi: Fascinating graph compares PSG star to Haaland, Mbappe, Neymar
Article image:Lionel Messi: Fascinating graph compares PSG star to Haaland, Mbappe, Neymar

Lionel Messi is hurtling towards the 2022 World Cup in sensational form.

All eyes are set to be on the seven-time Ballon d’Or winner as he looks to secure the biggest prize in men’s football at what will almost certainly be the final attempt.


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Having experienced the heartbreak of falling at the final hurdle in 2014, Messi will be hoping to carry over his magnificent form for Paris Saint-Germain to Qatar and duly lead Argentina that one step further this time around.

Messi’s sensational second season for PSG

At the end of the day, Argentina‘s hopes will rest on the team coming together as one and all singing off the same hymn sheet, but there’s no denying that having an in-form Messi on the scene is a massive help.

And the cynics might not have seen this narrative coming when you consider that Messi was roundly criticised for what was admittedly a quiet debut season at the Parc des Princes.

With just six goals in Ligue 1 to his name, Messi was the subject of scrutiny and questioning as to whether or not father time had finally caught up with him.

Qatar 2022: Ultimate World Cup quiz

However, fast-forward just a few months and those premature suggestions have never looked so silly with Messi channeling whatever the opposite of second-season-syndrome is in France.

And you needn’t look further for proof of Messi’s sensational run of form than his collection of goal contributions, amassing no less than 12 strikes and 14 assists in just 18 appearances.

It is, after all, in Messi’s uncanny ability to mix goals and assists so interchangeably that he’s been able to endure so well in the beautiful game, cutting the figure of a lethal finisher one second and then a cultured playmaker the next.

Graph shows off the genius of Messi

And the extent to which Messi has mastered that balancing act has been superbly illustrated by Opta Analyst in a fascinating graphic mapping Europe’s best players by goal and assist potential.

With ‘Expected assists per 90’ on the y axis and ‘Non-penalty expected goals per 90’ on the x axis, it makes for a fantastic visual representation of which players in Europe’s top five leagues – who have played at least 500 minutes – are both the most threatening and creative this season.

In layman’s terms, the higher up you are, the more you’re thriving from an assists perspective and the further to the right-hand side you are, the more you’re probing with your goalscoring threat.

And if you’re pushing far into the top right-hand corner then you’re doing both to an unbelievable standard, so low and behold, where does Messi find himself? Yes, that’s right, you guessed it…

As such, be sure to bask in the magnificence of Messi for PSG this season by checking out how the graph compares his goals and assists menacing to the continent’s other top players:

Tweet: Messi’s magnificence in creating and scoring goals

What can we take from the graph?

It would be one thing to see Messi shining in the data like this in his prime, but to see him essentially leading the way at 35 years old really does underline how extraordinary he is.

Look, for example, at who is thriving in each particular facet of the graph: Robert Lewandowski and Erling Haaland are making themselves real nuisances with their goalscoring threat, while Kevin De Bruyne and Remy Cabella are causing creative mayhem.

Messi is, admittedly, a little more towards the creative side of things as we’ve come to expect in his later years, but he’s still pretty much breathing down the necks of Kylian Mbappe and Karim Benzema with his goal threat too.

Article image:Lionel Messi: Fascinating graph compares PSG star to Haaland, Mbappe, Neymar

However, even if you take nothing away from the specificity and minutiae of the statistics themselves, then do make sure you take stock of the fact that Messi is simply on fire right now.

Only time will tell whether or not that will translate into the World Cup trophy that he so desperately craves, but just rest assured that he’s absolutely, definitely, certainly not finished yet.

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