In La Liga, nobody gets remotely close to matching the output of Barcelona superstar Lionel Messi.
The Argentine’s brace against Eibar on the final round of games saw him finish on 50 goals for the season – 36 in La Liga – as he comfortably finished as top scorer.
But while he was in a league of his own this season in Spain, Messi would not have enjoyed such dominance over his peers had he been playing in the Premier League, it has been revealed.
Let’s take chances created as one such example. Messi created 92 in La Liga this season, edging out Alaves’ Jony, who got 85.
But a cross-check to the Premier League shows that Leicester City’s James Maddison performed better than Messi as he produced 100 created chances.
Eden Hazard created 95 and Bournemouth winger Ryan Fraser created 93, both beating Messi’s total for the season.
Messi’s total tally of 36 league goals blows away any competition coming from England – he would have wrapped up the Golden boot long before the season finale.
In fact, of 15 key stats analysed, Messi, compared to those in the Premier League, came out on top in just eight of them.
He was robbed of a clean sweep in La Liga as Celta Vigo’s Sofiane Boufal completed 144 take-ons, which beat Messi’s tally of 134.
Hazard, who in a research study was described as the closest player to Messi in terms of similarity, won 13 more fouls than the Barcelona man and also made 70 passes more in the final third.
The Belgian could put comparisons to the test next season should he complete a move to La Liga with Real Madrid determined to land him this summer.