You know, Ronaldo is often praised for being clutch, when it comes to big moments. Some football fans feel that, he's the man who can score, when the pressure's on. And, well… that’s a huge understatement.
Here's a chart listing football legends that racked up the most Champions League goals past round 16. Most of these legends float between 5 and 15 goals. You got the usual suspects like Puskas, Raúl, and Eusébio.
These guys are masters at finding the back of the net. As you climb the list, you'll spot Benzema. And then there's Lionel Messi, with a remarkable 19 goals in his career.
But completely isolated, In a league of his own. . .
is Cristiano. With 43 goals when it matters the most. That's 24 more goals than Messi.
This is ridiculous. But don't worry, the thumbnail wasn't clickbait. I'm gonna show you some crazy charts where Messi dominates and other unbelievable stats from the greats of the game.
I just wanted to give Ronaldo his due before we start because, well, it's about to get rough for his fans. For example, everyone talks about Ronaldo being a sick dribbler and how valuable his moves were back in his Man United days. Watching his highlights, you do not doubt that he was an unstoppable, electrifying dribbler.
But compared to Messi? Nah, not even close. Check out this chart showing Ronaldo's dribbles per game, each season.
Over his 20 year long career. He started off strong as a creative winger. His job was to go on one-on-ones and carve out spaces.
His dribbling peak came in the 2005 with 4. 2 dribbles, every game. But as time went on, his dribbling slowed down.
By 2009, the year he won his first Ballon d’Or, he was down to 1. 9 dribbles per game. When he joined Real Madrid, his dribbles went up to 3.
3 per game in his first season, but he soon shifted his focus to goals, becoming the league’s top scorer. But clearly, Ronaldo didn’t even come close to what Messi could do. Since his rookie season, an 18-year-old Messi was averaging a whopping 7.
3 dribbles per game. His prime? 8.
6 dribbles per 90. As a 20-year-old. Even in his worst season, Messi made 4.
1 dribbles per game. Better than Ronaldo's best season. That means that when it comes to getting past defenders, Messi’s worst is better than Ronaldo’s best.
But where does Messi's nearly impossible ability to dribble stand among the best in football history? Well, to understand just how incredible Messi is, I pulled together data on this season’s best dribblers. It only took me a couple of days to get all these stats.
Look at this… Isn’t it beautiful? Don’t worry, I'll break this down into a beautiful chart so it's way easier to understand. Ok, so.
. . Here we have the chart.
On the X axis, we have successful dribbles per 90, and on the Y axis, the success rate of those dribbles. As you can see. .
. Even the most elite players struggle to get more than 4 dribbles per game. Jeremy Doku leads with 5.
3 dribbles each game at a 56% success rate. I mean, he keeps spamming the same move over and over, but it works like a charm. But there are four playmaker’s peaks that blow everyone else out of the water.
3 of those players are Messi, Neymar, and Hazard. Their best seasons are on another level. Hazard has 6.
1 dribbles per 90 at an 82. 5% completion rate, which means he'd get past you 4 times out of 5. While Neymar hit 7.
1 dribbles per game at a 66% success rate. Neymar was just football champagne every week. And Messi with an unreal 8.
6 dribbles per game at a 68% completion rate. The guy literally dribbled past the entire team. But is any of this a surprise?
We all know Messi, Neymar, and Hazard are unstoppable generational talents. But there’s an unexpected player on this list. The only player who could rival Messi, Neymar and Hazard, in dribbles, is.
. . Surprisingly, Adama Traoré.
With 6. 6 dribbles per game and a 78% success rate, he was an absolute beast, moving like he belonged in the NFL. Nobody could catch him; he was untouchable.
The only thing stopping Traoré, was his own finishing. You see, dribbling isn’t everything. That's why our next chart will break down a player's creativity and show us who the best playmaker in football history is.
We'll focus on progressive carries and passes. Progressive carries happen when a player drives the ball forward. It’s not just about dribbling; it’s about pushing the ball towards the goal with purpose.
While Progressive passes are those that move the ball into a more dangerous position with a precise pass. Imagine a midfielder making a pass breaking through the defense lines. This graph essentially shows how much a player helps his team get closer to the goal.
In the dribbler zone you see players like Vinicius, Doku, and Traoré. They are relentless, causing constant problems for defenders but aren’t always the best at setting up others. Down here, you have maestros like Kroos, Fabregas, and Rodri.
They don’t move a lot, but a single pass from them can split any defense wide-open and lead to a goal in a heartbeat. The number 10’s zone – a mix of carriers and passers – has De Bruyne, Ozil, and Isco. These players are versatile, combining the ability to drive the ball forward with the vision to set up teammates.
But only Neymar and Messi reach the genius zone, excelling both in carrying and passing. Meaning they’re double threats, dribbling with visionary playmaking making them players nearly impossible to stop. This is the definition of talent.
They are extraordinary players with more playmaking ability than anyone else in football history. Well, maybe not in football history… While deeply researching this video, I found that some hardcore football fans watched all the World Cup footage and gathered all the data on the most legendary players. I’m talking about Zidane, Eusébio, Pelé, and Maradona.
Those legends. Comparing those icons to today's players without bias is pretty cool. Of course, these stats have their limitations, such as a small sample of matches to examine, but they’re very revealing nonetheless.
For example, where do you think Zidane will be on the chart? Zidane's my favorite midfielder ever. Every move he made was perfect, even that headbutt on Materazzi.
But I gotta admit, I'm going off highlights since I didn't really see him play live. So I would’ve guessed he’s up there with Messi and Neymar. But what do the numbers say about how good he really was?
Well, as you can see, Zidane’s 1998 World Cup stands right there with De Bruyne and Pogba’s game. It’s pretty crazy, but according to these stats, we might be praising Zidane a little too much. Don’t get me wrong, the guy was a legend, but the numbers show our perception of his game might be just a bit exaggerated.
And the numbers don’t lie. Pelé’s 1970 World Cup? Close to Isco.
Keep in mind that this graph only shows how effective a player is at moving his team closer to scoring. So, if you add Isco’s playmaking skills to the goalscoring numbers of Cristiano Ronaldo, well, you get Pelé. How crazy is that?
Now, we have another player in the genius zone. Can you guess who is it? Surpassing Neymar and Messi, Maradona’s 1986 World Cup performance shows how insane he was.
He possessed all the qualities of a phenomenal football player. Skill, strength, stamina, self-confidence, and speed. Maradona was an artist on the field.
Basically, he was Messi with an attitude. But there are two more legends you gotta see. I even had to check the stats twice because they were so unbelievable.
Most football fans talk about this player’s dribbling magic, but what’s often overlooked is his insane ability to pass. With 5. 4 progressive carries, and a record-breaking 14 progressive passes, Ronaldinho’s 2006 World Cup was a masterclass.
That’s completely off the charts. That’s the Ronaldinho zone right there. He could dribble, he could pass—no surprise, his numbers align perfectly with the legend we know.
And lastly, we have someone who, as I’ve said, is underrated as hell. People might not talk about this player as much as other legends, but he was ahead of his time. His simplicity and effectiveness define modern football.
This guy is famous for saying, “Playing football is very simple, but playing simple football is the hardest thing there is. ” Have you guessed who is it yet? I’m talking about Johan Cruyff.
With superior ball-carrying and passing, Cruyff was a total game-changer. Cruyff makes Messi, Maradona, and Neymar look like ordinary players. I call this the “what the hell” zone.
This is one of the most insane stats out there, and it might just show us who the greatest creator in football history really is. And even though it isn't as glorious, this number Neymar put up is actually an incredible feat in its own right. Most football fans know that Neymar's skills are so outrageous that he disrespects and humiliates players, all the time.
Once, a referee stopped the game because Neymar did a rainbow flick over a random NPC player. The move was so disrespectful, that it got him a yellow card. But what most fans may not know is the crazy number of nutmegs he, actually, pulled off.
So, here’s how many nutmegs a player’s made and the minutes they’ve played. Mbappé did 15 nutmegs in the 20/21 season. Jadon Sancho had 16.
That was before he went to United. Neymar and Hazard tied for second with 18 nutmegs. Not surprising given the charts we’ve seen earlier.
And in first place, there’s Rashford with 21 nutmegs. But the thing is – Rashford has played much more minutes. If we adjusted Neymar’s 17/18 season minutes to the same as Rashford's, Neymar would be.
. . Here.
With 38 nutmegs in a season, Neymar is … Well, he’s Neymar. That's pure magic. This might not be the most useful stat for winning games, but sure is entertaining.
But how do we even measure a player's true impact on the game? Is there any stat that tells us how much a player has played without any bias at all? A stat that combines all advanced metrics into one, game score?
Well, I went looking, and in my quest to find this elusive stat, I quickly came across Whoscored. WhoScored is a platform used by more than 10 million people per month. They created ratings that are the most accurate, respected, and famous indicators in the world of football.
Data scientists at Whoscored developed a unique algorithm that uses over 200 raw statistics to judge a player’s performance. They've distilled every pass, dribble, shot, cross, header, carry, positioning, and everything in between into a single number, giving an incredibly accurate rate on a player’s game performance. For example, let’s compare one of Messi’s game scores to one of Ronaldo’s.
In Messi's game, he got an assist. In Ronaldo’s game, he scored a goal. On the surface, those stats look pretty even, right?
But let’s look deeper. Messi pulled off 9 successful dribbles; Ronaldo did none. Messi made 10 key passes; Ronaldo did none.
Messi hit 3 long passes; Ronaldo did none. Messi won 12 ground duels; Ronaldo won one. Ronaldo shot off-target 3 times; Messi only missed once.
Ronaldo touched the ball a third as much as Messi, and he even missed a penalty in this game. So, even though Ronaldo scored, his game score was just 6. 8.
Meanwhile, Messi, with just an assist, hit a perfect 10. Sure, it’s not perfect, but it’s a solid way to judge how good or bad a performance was. Only 0.
7% of all performances in football score above 9. Getting a perfect 10? That’s almost impossible unless you’re a total genius.
Now, based on this game score, let’s look at the top 5 players with the most perfect game performances since 2009/10 season. In fifth, we have Lewandowski, with 19 perfect matches. One of the most dangerous goal machines in football history.
Fourth, Luis Suarez with an impressive 27 perfect matches record. The best striker since R9 in my opinion. In third place, we have Neymar, with 33 perfect ratings throughout his career.
Regular stats don’t do justice to how incredible Neymar really is, but these advanced metrics? They show a whole different level of greatness. My admiration for him just keeps growing.
And of course, we can’t forget Cristiano. The man’s got 38 perfect games under his belt. Imagine an entire season where every game is flawless—that’s Cristiano for you.
Simply remarkable; there’s no other way to put it. And finally the undisputed number 1. Lionel Messi.
If I told you Messi is the king of perfect matches, it would be a massive understatement. With more than Cristiano, Neymar, Suarez, and Lewandowski combined, Messi has achieved an astonishing 120 perfect performances in the last 14 seasons. Messi’s consistency in reaching perfection is not just rare; it’s almost mythical.
Messi’s been putting up such crazy performances that over the past decade, a gamescore of 9 is just a regular day for him. Every advanced statistic shows us that no one has come even close to Messi in recent years. For instance, let’s look at another Messi stat that’s incredibly hard to believe.
A football data scientist created a formula to determine a player's value to their team. Analyzing data from 2017 to 2022, he looked at goals, expected threat, offensive value added, ball progression, shooting efficiency, and other complex metrics. In this chart, the higher up you go, the more value you add per game.
The further right, the more value you add over the season. So, the further up and right you go, the better you are. According to this metric, only five players have managed to achieve a rating higher than 2.
5 per game in a single season. De Bruyne had a 2,56 value added in the 19/20 season. Mbappé scored 2,76 per game in the 18/19 season.
Incredibly respectable seasons. Climbing higher, you find the often underappreciated Neymar Junior, who achieved a ridiculous 3,37 score in his first PSG season. Neymar’s 17/18 season was out of this world, and we’ll never know what could have happened if he hadn’t gotten injured.
But north of all his peers, solidifying his greatness, is the great Lionel Messi, who has had the top 4 seasons in 5 years. With the highest value added per game and overall season. Messi's brilliance isn’t just in his stats but in the way he transforms the game, turning every touch of the ball into a work of art.
Messi’s value to his team is out-of-this-world, and these stats, these numbers, only begin to capture the magic he truly brings to the pitch. And there you have it. As promised, 7 charts that may have blown your mind.
My most-viewed video is about other football charts, so I thought I’d do it again. Check it out if you haven’t yet. I put my heart and soul into this stuff, so don’t forget to subscribe if you like it.
And, until we meet again.
