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The nominations for The Best FIFA Men's Player were revealed on Monday and it will be one of Cristiano Ronaldo, Mohamed Salah and Luka Modric who will receive the coveted honour in London in three weeks.
Are you thinking the same thing as me though? WHERE ON EARTH IS MESSI?
Okay here's the thing. Every person who watches football is biased. Each and every one of them. Even Gary Neville, the Premier League legend who delivers some deep and insightful punditry on Monday Night Football, and even me, a teenager who wastes his time on this alluring sport.
Simply put, I love Lionel Messi. As a Chelsea fan, I rejoiced when his penalty struck the crossbar in 2012, but weirdly enough I am ashamed to admit that fact now. Such is the hold the little man has over me.
Obviously, I was enraged when he was not chosen in the top three. Then I took a deep breath, put my bias aside and checked some stats. Then I checked some more. Subsequently, I came to the conclusion that my rage was justified. As they say, the numbers don't lie.
To list the prominent numbers, Messi had the most goals, assists, chances created, key passes, and successful dribbles in Europe last season. But let us delve deeper into the numbers.
I will now try to deliver an argument which aims to prove that Messi's absence in the nominees is nothing short of a mockery. And the means by which I will do it are purely objective. Just some numbers. Actually, a lot of them.
I chose the 2017/18 season to look at the data and included the respective leagues, the Champions League, and the World Cup.
Now obviously Messi, Salah, Ronaldo, and Modric play in different positions and different environments, which is something that can't be put down as a metric as it is too subjective. But it is safe to say that all of them had elite squads with them.
Another point to note is the vast difference between the roles of Modric and Messi. Both Ronaldo and Salah operate in similar roles as Messi which places the focus on attack and relieves them of any major defensive duties. That is not quite the case with Modric, and I will address it later specifically.
Now all four are players who shoulder attacking responsibilities, so let us look at three main parameters which are the bread and butter of an attacking player - shooting, dribbling, and passing.
#1 Shooting
Ronaldo takes the most shots of them all, with 6.4 per game. Messi is close behind on 5.2, Salah took 3.8, and Modric took a measly 1.2 attempts. However, Messi took 2.5 of his shots from outside the box, which is a considerable 48.1% of his total tally.
Naturally, it is harder to score from outside the box, due to the distance from goal, more opposition bodies in between, and plenty of time for the goalkeeper to gather his bearings. Ronaldo took 25% of his shots from outside the area, and the percentages are 25% for Salah and 58% for Modric.
Aside from Modric, Messi clearly took the tougher shots by far compared to Salah and Ronaldo but managed to come out with the highest percentage of shots on target. And despite Modric taking tougher shots than Messi, he simply can't match the sheer volume of the Argentinian.
Salah trumps Messi in the conversion rates, albeit closely. Messi's rate from outside the box is perhaps skewed due to the large number of set pieces he takes, and the Egyptian edges him in both the regions. On the other hand, Ronaldo and Modric are well behind.
#2 Dribbling
Messi is considered by many as the best dribbler in the world, and he is definitely excels compared to the other three. He attempts 7 dribbles per game, almost twice the number of Salah, who is second with 3.6. Ronaldo and Modric attempt 2.1 and 2.6 respectively.
Messi boasts of the highest success percentage as well, with 71%. Ronaldo is second with 66.7%, but he is nowhere near Messi in the volume. The Argentinian is miles ahead in take-ons, and the dribbles are not aesthetically bad either.
#3 Passing
For the passing numbers, the key passes per game are plotted against the total passes per game. A key pass is a pass which results in a teammate having a shot. Thus, assists are a subset of key passes and the latter is a better indicator of creativity as it removes the dependency on the teammate's accuracy.
Modric expectedly tops the passing charts with 60.8 passes per game but Messi has a surprisingly high tally with 51.6. This is due to his modified role with Barcelona, where he drops deep to initiate play and create chances. Ronaldo and Salah are not that involved in the buildup, as both complete less than 30 passes per game.
In key passes, Messi is at the top with 2.3, followed by Salah at 1.9 and Modric and Ronaldo at 1.5 and 1.3 respectively. And most of those 2.3 make you go weak at the knees.
#4 Tackles, interceptions, and aerial duels
Modric dominates the tackles and interceptions, making a combined 2.5 per game. Messi is second with 0.8, followed by Salah and Ronaldo. Owing to an orthodox midfield position, the Croatian expectedly trumps this aspect.
Coming to aerial duels, there's only one winner. Ronaldo contests 2.7 aerial duels per game and wins 54% of them. These are mammoth numbers compared to the other three, but guess who's second. Yes, it's Messi(!), winning 36% per cent of his duels.
Conclusion
In the shooting department, Salah arguably trumps Messi, albeit closely. Considering dribbling, Messi is out there on his own, with no real competition from the other three. In passing numbers, Modric stakes his claim but Messi's creativity tilts the balance in his favour.
Comparing Messi to Ronaldo and Salah is easier due to their similar positions and roles in their teams. But Modric plays a different role altogether which brings some subjectivity into play.
The Croatian was a vital part of both his national side and club, who reached the World Cup final and won the Champions League respectively. But putting aside the narrative and considering the qualities he brings on the pitch, it is hard to assert that he contributes more to the team than Messi.
Another notion which surrounds Messi is his subpar performances in the Champions League and the World Cup. Firstly, he scored 6 and assisted 2 goals in his 8 Champions League appearances, which is definitely not a bad showing. As for the World Cup, he clearly underperformed. But are 4 matches under an erratic coach and a substandard team enough to wipe out a season of unbelievable performances? I think not.
As I said at the beginning of this narrative, I am biased towards this magical Argentinian who has provided me with uncountable blissful moments which are second to none. But I have tried to construct an objective argument as to why Messi's absence from the nominees is a travesty.
The three nominees have had unbelievable seasons, no doubt. But Messi has arguably bettered them. Perhaps he is held to such a high standard that it is ironically proving to be his downfall. Whatever the reason may be, discarding Messi is a shocking decision and the personnel responsible should be looking at themselves in the mirror.
The nominees for the Best Goalkeeper award are Kasper Schmeichel, Thibaut Courtois, and Hugo Lloris - which raised the question that is FIFA sacrificing integrity to promote their brand? These three goalkeepers had great moments in the World Cup but the likes of David De Dea and Marc-Andre ter Stegen are better goalkeepers.
Incidents like these raise the question that are these individual awards to be taken seriously at all? You're better than this FIFA. Let's hope that the Ballon d'Or guys take their job more seriously.
