Europe Top 10 dribblers from top 5 leagues revealed | Ronaldo’s name missing
It won’t come as much a surprise for those who watch his masterful displays in La Liga every week, but Barcelona star Lionel Messi has been revealed as Europe’s top dribbler by statistics looking at the continent’s top five leagues.
The Argentine forward tops the table for players taking on an opponent and making it past them whilst retaining the ball with 258 successful dribbles, beating Chelsea playmaker Eden Hazard by just four over the two-season period analysed.
Cristiano Ronaldo, widely regarded as the best player in the world alongside Messi, can’t get close to his Ballon d’Or rival in these rankings though. He has completed less than half the number that Messi, Hazard and four other players have managed.
Ronaldo managed just 99 dribbles over the same period, putting him outside the top 20 across Europe’s top five leagues in the tables put together by WhoScored.com.
Hazard, with 254 successful dribbles, is one of only two Barclays Premier League representatives in the top 10. He is joined by Raheem Sterling in joint-eighth spot with 172 to his name.
The table seems to show a solid trend of short, explosive playmakers with Messi, Hazard and Sterling as prime examples.
And Germany seems to be the place to be if you want to watch those kind of players – six of the top 10 ply their trade in the Bundesliga.
Other big names included are Bayern Munich pair Franck Ribery (175) and Arjen Robben (172) and Paris Saint-Germain’s Brazilian winger Lucas Moura.
Hoffenheim’s Roberto Firmino (244), Borussia Monchengladbach’s Raffael (222), Karim Bellarabi of Bayer Leverkusen (206) and Eric Choupo-Moting from Schalke (200) complete the 200+ club with Messi and Hazard.
