Argentina will face Poland in the final match of the first group on Wednesday. The live broadcast starts on TV2 at 20:30. During the match, a chat will be opened for the World Cup follow-up article.
Arguably one of the greatest footballers of all time Lionel Messi will likely play his last World Cup in Qatar. There are countless different statistics to explain Messi’s performances on the field.
Messi has broken various records constantly. As an individual player, he has also played a big role in influencing the development of modern football.
His long-time coach at FC Barcelona Pep Guardiola has stated about Messi that “don’t write about him, don’t try to describe him. Look at him”.
Much of the finesse that we have been able to watch Messi play over the years is based on this statement. There would be more than enough exaggerations about both Messi and his influence: there is undoubtedly something exceptional about the La Masia breed.
In this story, we act against Guardiola’s instructions and try to get deeper through statistics into what makes Messi so exceptional.
The graphic shows the goals scored by the players in the TOP20 series and the passes during the last seven seasons. Statistics show that even in his older days, Messi is a completely exceptional creator and passer.
Goals are easily remembered, but Messi is also exceptional as an organizer of situations. Driving and breaking passes are at an exceptionally high level.
– Overtaking Messi is based on a high frequency of contact and on destabilizing the opponent’s balance and reading the center of gravity. Urheilu’s expert has yet to come across a player who has managed to find ways to defend Messi Miika Nuutinen visualize.
– For example Jose Mourinho has said that if you have to defend alone against Messi, you are dead. In addition, Messi skilfully takes advantage of teammates’ movements and combinations, such as wall passes or walls for the third.
During his career, Messi has developed as a creator of situations and in many ways his excellence is based on a versatile threat. Messi has a unique ability to stop the game and, on the other hand, accelerate from zero to 100 after a moment from standing.
The more players Messi absorbs, the more space opens up for passes. Even at full speed, Messi is constantly ready to pass because the ball is close to the foot and at the same time he is a master at reading the spaces that are growing on the field.
Messi breaks all expectations with his finishing
You could show different graphics about Messi’s exceptionality all day long, but one thing cannot be ignored: finishing. The graphic shows the development of Messi’s goal numbers in blue and expected goals in red.
Every year in elite football there are players who finish more than their goal expectations, but long-lasting overperformance is really rare. Throughout his career, Messi has practically mocked these models based on the data of millions of shots.
– Of course, Messi has a trademark shot from the edge of the box, which is probably the biggest reason for the significant xG overperformance. In addition, Messi shoots really quickly and accurately, and is able to use versatile solutions in one-on-one situations with the goalkeeper, for example small chips over the goalkeeper. Above all, Messi is good at understanding the goalkeeper’s movement direction and shooting as the situation demands, Nuutinen states.
Messi’s role and player profile have changed considerably over the years
Messi is now 35 years old and his player profile has changed even more over the years. Regardless of the role or playing position, his impact on the game and the final result has been significant. Statistics and powers have remained record high throughout the years.
How exactly has Messi’s role changed over the years? Let’s find out by examining the heat maps of Messi’s touches throughout his career from the attached video.
– Messi already played on the right wing at La Masia and, despite changing playing positions, has enjoyed his entire career on the right side of the pitch. Out of all the seasons, in the 2007-08 season, Messi played as the cleanest winger, and the touches mainly took place in the two narrowest lanes, Nuutinen opens.
– 2009 Pep Guardiola ‘reinvented’ the role of valeys, which Messi immediately took to completely new dimensions. This can also be seen in the heat map, the hottest part has clearly moved to the center, especially in 2010-11 Messi appeared as a cough.
– The “Valeysi years” resulted in a decrease in the number of passes by Messi. Of course, there were still more of them than anyone else, but on the other hand, the number of combinations and breaking passes increased. Playing as a fake made Messi’s profile even more versatile.
Messi has never been the best player in the team’s off-ball phase. Participation in the team’s defensive plays has decreased year by year. The biggest change here was seen in the years when Messi moved to the place of Valeus. His walk rate increased significantly and he participated very little in the team’s off-ball activities.
After the Qatar World Cup match against Saudi Arabia, Messi had walked the most of all the players in the tournament during the match, a total of 4.6 kilometers. Of course, this also happens in the phases of the ball game, but Messi emphatically stays on the sidelines when the team defends.
The coaches have allowed this because the attacking threat is truly exceptional and he acts as a big threat when his team loses the ball. Messi’s increased number of walks has enabled a long career with gigantic playing minutes.
– 2014-16 Luis Enrique returned Messi back to the right wing as part of the dreaded trio of Messi, Suarez and Neymar. 2017 Messi played for Barca for the first time at his childhood playground in his twenties. Interestingly enough, in Argentina’s shirt, Messi had enjoyed himself in the tenth place for a couple of World Cups. From this point on, Messi’s importance to Barca was perhaps at its greatest, and “Kirppu” participated strongly in all phases of the game, as can be seen from the heat map spreading to his own half of the field, says Nuutinen.
Messi in the national team vs Messi in the club team
Throughout his career, Messi has borne enormous pressures in the Argentina shirt. The comparison to Maradona has been constant. For a long time, his career has also been marked by the discussion that he cannot do the same things in the national team jersey as in the club team.
He still hasn’t been able to score in the follow-up matches of the World Cup. The 2021 Copa America championship changed the narrative, but the brightest crown on the World Cup greens is still expected.
Is Messi’s underperformance in the national team shirt true?
According to Miika Nuutinen, Barca was Messi’s football home, where the game-like support network also helped Messi shine. In this context, the support network refers to activities that were based on connections between players and were almost independent of the coach. There were, for example:
1. Sergio Busquets’ observation before receiving the ball — wanted to be aware of Messi’s situation all the time
2. Jordi Alba’s depth movements as Messi cuts in from the right
3. Luis Suarez’s first movements in the box, which enabled Messi to have delivery pipes, passing gaps or shooting positions
No similar connections have been found in the national team, but it is also necessary to underline some kind of chaos that has marked the Argentine national team during Messi’s peak years.
For example, in 2010, when Messi lived in his peak years for his age, he was the coach of the national team Diego Maradona, whose game organization was very loose. At least it did not support the development of the support network.
On the other hand, when you examine the accompanying graphics, it does not at least excuse Messi’s underperformance in the national team shirt. There are even more passes, possessions and fouls won than in a club team shirt per 90 minutes. Correspondingly, goal and assist expectations have remained smaller in the national team shirt.
This is partly due to the fact that Messi’s participation in all different phases of the game has been greater in the national team shirt than in the club team. In a national team environment, there is always less time to prepare as a team, has Argentina tried to solve too many problems by relying on Messi’s exceptionality?