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What’s the story?
Juventus star Cristiano Ronaldo has been rated outside the best 50 dribbles in Europe this season, although the likes of Eden Hazard, Paulo Dybala, Kylian Mbappe and Lionel Messi all feature.
In case you didn’t know…
The Portuguese swapped Real Madrid for Juventus last summer and has so far continued with his fine form in the Serie A. Ronaldo is currently the top-scorer in the Italian top flight with 19 goals to his name.
However, the Portuguese’s style of play has changed a bit in recent years. While he was an all-action, lively and skillful player during his Manchester United days, the 34-year-old has recently prioritized scoring goals.
He is often seen pacing around the opposition penalty area, rather than drifting to the wings to take on players like he used to do in the Premier League.
The heart of the matter
The CIES Football Observatory has compiled data from Opta to rank the best dribblers in Europe’s top five leagues over the last 12 months. Unfortunately, though, Ronaldo doesn’t even appear in the top 50.
The list, however, features the likes of Lionel Messi, Eden Hazard, Paulo Dybala, Kylian Mbappe, Jadon Sancho and a couple of other exciting talents in Europe.
Messi leads as the best dribbler in Europe, with the Argentine boasting a successful dribble every 19.2 minutes. In second place is Nice's Allan Saint-Maximin with a dribble every 19.8 minutes.
Chelsea star Eden Hazard (21) is the third best dribbler in England, while Naim Sliti (21.4) and Ousmane Dembele (21.7) are fourth and fifth, respectively, on the ratings.
The top 10 includes, Jadon Sancho (24.1), Marcus Thuram (24.2), Jeff Reine-Adelaide (24.7), Wilfred Zaha (25.6) and Angel Correa (27.1).
Meanwhile, Paulo Dybala (29.9) is ranked 13th, Philippe Coutinho (31.7) is 16th and Kylian Mbappe is 29th on the list of dribblers in Europe.
What’s next?
Ronaldo may not be among the best dribblers in Europe, but the Portuguese makes up for it with his impeccable goal record. It is, however, now certain that Europe will still have some exciting footballers even after Messi has retired, although the Argentine continues to reign supreme when it comes to dribbles.
