4 insane stats where Lionel Messi remains Europe’s benchmark – despite leaving three years ago | OneFootball

Lionel Messi has given European football’s best and brightest three years to catch up – and yet he still leads in a number of key stats going back to 2017.

If you ever needed a reminder that Messi was out of this world, this is it. A quiet international break has been the perfect opportunity to nerd out on stats and quantify exactly how good the eight-time Ballon d’Or winner is.

With credit to Squawka for compiling and sharing the stats on their X account, here are the five key metrics that Lionel Messi still leads across Europe’s five major leagues since the start of the 2017-18 season.

Goals Scored From Outside The Box

People don’t shoot from outside the box anymore, do they?

Whatever happened to wondergoals struck from miles out? Football’s all robotic, boring and data-led now – coaches are no doubt telling players not to take on low xG chances.

It’s probably no coincidence that we’ve seen a rise in this sentiment since Messi – who could finish from 25 yards as if he was five yards out – left Europe.

The Argentinian scored 40 goals from outside in the box in 196 games since 2017-18. That’s FOURTEEN more than next-closest challengers Kylian Mbappe and Harry Kane, who have played 67 and 97 more games in that period respectively.

Woodwork Hit

You might argue this one isn’t actually impressive.

‘We’re giving out praise for goals not scored, are we?’ you might ask in your most churlish voice.

But this just serves as a reminder that even when Messi missed, he often wasn’t far off. A matter of inches denied him dozens more goals.

Messi has hit the woodwork 54 times (with 5.7%) in La Liga and Ligue 1 since 2017-18. That’s 11 more times than Robert Lewandowski, who has continued turning out in European football for another three seasons since Messi’s departure.

It’s also exactly twice as often as old foe Cristiano Ronaldo (27 woodwork hits), who departed the European game six months before Messi.

Big Chances Created

Messi just edges out Kevin De Bruyne (you could’ve guessed that one) for ‘Big Chances Created’ since 2017-18 with 168 to 167.

Give the Belgian a few more games at Napoli and he’ll inevitably dethrone Messi, but it’s only taken him three years.

Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah is third on the list with 145. That’s 23 fewer in over a hundred more games.

Through-Balls Completed

A cousin of ‘Big Chances Created’ that also shows off Messi’s creative side, this one might be the most impressive of the lot.

Between 2017-18 and 2022-23, Messi completed a grand total of 132 through balls. Only five players over the past nine seasons have even managed half that number, while closest challenger Bruno Fernandes is FORTY-EIGHT completed through-balls off matching him.

In all likelihood, we could check back on this list in another five years and Messi will STILL be top since 2017-18.

A special mention for Neymar, who completed 79 through balls in 112 Ligue 1 appearances at PSG. That’s the only player in the same stratosphere as Messi on that front.

There’s a strong argument that not only is Messi the greatest goalscorer in history, but stats like this show us he might just be the best creative force there’s ever been too.