Dribbling is the icing on the cake in soccer. According to sports analytics company Opta, Lionel Messi has outdribbled his opponents by a wide margin in recent years. While watching these masters of football, don’t forget about your 20Bet champions league betting tips.
Lionel Messi is not only exceptional when it comes to goals and assists. Opta has been recording detailed data since the 2006/07 season, including dribbles. And here, the Barça playmaker is clearly ahead of his competitors in Europe’s top five leagues.
According to statistics, the Argentine has left his opponents standing 1,880 times in the last fourteen years, 660 more than second-placed Eden Hazard. Messi also has a fairly successful rate of 57.2 percent, the second-best among the top 10. Only veteran Andres Iniesta is statistically even more successful with a success rate of 60.9 percent.
Real Madrid’s new signing Eden Hazard, is the only other player to have broken the 1,000 mark (1,220) during his time at Lille, Chelsea, and Real. In third place is Franck Ribéry, who has played for Galatasaray, Marseille, and Bayern Munich, among others, and is now winding down his career at Fiorentina.
Somewhat surprisingly, Neymar trails his compatriot Roberto Firmino in both the number of successful dribbles (734 to 736) and the success rate (50.2 to 56.8 percent). Striker Cristiano Ronaldo has left quite a few opponents behind over the years, but his success rate of 44 percent is the lowest in the top 10.
The top 10 best dribblers since 2005/06:
▶ 1. Lionel Messi: 1880 successful dribbles (57.2% success rate)
▶ 2. Eden Hazard: 1220 successful dribbles (57.1%)
▶ 3. Franck Ribéry: 939 successful dribbles (47.9%)
▶ 4. Sergio Aguero: 832 successful dribbles (46.6%)
▶ 5. Cristiano Ronaldo: 816 successful dribbles (44%)
▶ 6. Joaquin: 798 successful dribbles (50.9%)
▶ 7. Hatem Ben Arfa: 770 successful dribbles (50.6%)
▶ 8. Andres Iniesta: 739 successful dribbles (60.9%)
▶ 9. Roberto Firmino: 736 successful dribbles (56.8%)
▶10. Neymar: 734 successful dribbles (50.2%)
However, Lionel Messi is not at the top of the list of the best dribblers in the current season. The 32-year-old has also been sidelined at times due to injuries. So, with 55 successful dribbles, the current leader is Wilfried Zaha, who plows through the defense for Crystal Palace. Nice’s Youcef Atal has been less successful by eleven times. Emiliano Buendia, midfielder for Norwich City, completes the podium.
The top 9 best dribblers in Europe this season (top 5 leagues)
▶ 1. Wilfried Zaha: 55 successful dribbles
▶ 2. Youcef Atal: 44 successful dribbles
▶ 3. Emiliano Buendia: 41 successful dribbles
▶ 4. Adama Traore: 40 successful dribbles
▶ 5. Angel Di Maria: 39 successful dribbles
▶ 5. Denis Suarez: 39 successful dribbles
▶ 7. Nabil Fekir: 39 successful dribbles
▶ 8. Jeremie Boga: 38 successful dribbles
▶ 9. Nicolas Pepe: 36 successful dribbles
Dribbling in all its facets
Dribbling is one of the most important basic soccer techniques. In today’s game, opponents attack from many sides at once. This makes the space for dribbling extremely tight. In order to stay on the ball despite this pressure from opponents, players must master a wide variety of dribbling techniques.
Golden age of learning
The individual tactical options with the ball depend heavily on the technical skill of the individual player. The greater and more confident the technical repertoire of the ball holder, the more tactical options they have at their disposal. Therefore, technical training is extremely important for the tactical development of every player, especially during the favorable learning phase in the D-youth age group.
Dribbling and feints
The technique of dribbling is used for three different tactical purposes:
Dribbling with the ball serves to remain in possession in pressure situations without passing options. In a group and team tactical context, it can be used to lure several defenders to one side in order to then shift the game into open spaces. This requires close ball control in order to control the ball as well as possible and be able to react to the opponent’s actions.
Speed dribbling plays an important role in counterattacking situations. The player in possession of the ball has plenty of space or breaks free from a developing pressure situation and dribbles at high speed to gain ground. In such dribbling situations, it is very important to control the ball with the instep or, if necessary, with parts of the outside of the foot in order to push the ball forward with every touch.
Dribbling past opponents is the classic, usually frontal 1-on-1 situation. The dribbler uses feints, changes of direction and speed to get past one or more defenders. Especially against space-oriented defensive systems, the ball carrier often finds himself outnumbered by opponents. Outstanding dribblers, therefore sometimes try to break through against two or three opponents, even if it means taking a risk. In these situations, the entire repertoire of ball control and a good bag of tricks are required to successfully overcome the opponent.
About Author
