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Why everyone thinks Messi performs less in Argentina compared to his Ligue 1 performance?

by | Dec 8, 2022

By Tarkan Batgun, CEO-Comparisonator

The answer is very simple. Messi gets fewer passes from his teammates in Argentina National team compared to his domestic competition in Paris St Germain and UEFA Championship games.

The graphics on the cover page shows all the comparisons covering his domestic league, UEFA competitions, and his current Argentina National Team performance side by side.

He is the maestro of the opposition, third in domestic and UEFA games with Paris. But it is fairly different in Argentina National team. He comes back, collects balls, drives the ball to the third, and expects balls when he gets to the box. When he gets the ball around the box, he kills it. Indeed, besides the artificial intelligence within the Comparisonator platform, eyes can also see this. Let’s have a look at the actual numbers which prove this:

Lionel receives 65.8 passes from his teammates on average per 90 minutes in French League 1
Lionel receives 53.2 passes from his teammates in Argentina

That makes 19% less passes in the national team.

How does this less pass ratio affect his performance? Let’s see the comparisonator ai calculations:

His overall performance in Argentina National Team is 30% less compared to his league performance
His offensive performance in Argentina National Team is 23% less compared to his league performance
His passing index is 58% less compared to his league performance

Even under these circumstances, Messi scored an average of 0.65 goals per 90 minutes in his National Team, compared to his domestic goal-scoring ratio of 0.54 goals per 90 minutes. It is unbelievably 20% more goals compared to his league performance.

Imagine if he receives the same amount of balls as in his team in France from his Argentinian teammates? I will leave that to your imagination.

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Tarkan Batgun is scouting & match analysis specialist with more than 20 years in football field, worked as a scouting director & head of performance analysis inside clubs, lectured in federations, currently working as the CEO of Comparisonator platform.
Subscribe Football Data Journal WorldwidePublished every two weeks, Comparisonator Football Data Journal covers the best players from international tournaments from UEFA to Libertadores; identifies high-performing lower league players; analyses and discovers possible young stars; and also includes guest analysts & writers who utilize our tool from around the world, such as Marca-Fox-Sky-Tutto Mercato and many more. All analyses have been conducted via Comparisonators' AI-powered player finder (Recruitment Shop) feature. Team customers such as Glasgow Rangers, Rapid Wien, Fortuna Sittard, FC Dallas, Besiktas, Al Nassr; agency customers Traffic Sport, Pro 11, International Dymension; media customers such as FOX, Marca, Tutto Mercato, LookSport TV, DHA; business customers such as socios, transfermarkt are amongst 100s of users. We are probably the most cost-effective recruitment tool in the world.

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