By David Gold
June 6 – Triple World Player of the Year Lionel Messi has been named the most productive player in Europe’s top five leagues by the International Centre for Sports Studies (CIES) Football Observatory.
The observatory ranks players according to their productivity per minute in terms of shooting, chance creation, take on, distribution and recovery, in Europe’s best leagues – the Premier League, La Liga, Serie A, Ligue 1 and the Bundesliga.
The player’s score is then weighted depending on the strength of their respective club, yet even so Messi still came out on top for his showing for Barcelona this season.
The Argentine enjoyed another remarkable season, breaking the all time Barcelona goalscoring record.
He also became the first player to score 50 goals in a La Liga season, and ended up with 73 goals in all competitions, in the process breaking a European goalscoring record.
Messi also became the first player to score five goals in a Champions League match against Bayer Leverkusen in the last 16.
His incredible season was not enough for Barcelona to win La Liga again however, as they were beaten by Real Madrid, and his team were unlucky in a semi-final defeat in the Champions League against Chelsea.
The second most effective player was David Silva (pictured below, left), who enjoyed an impressive campaign for Manchester City.
Roberto Mancini’s side relied heavily on Silva during their superb start to the season, with most of their good play funnelled through the diminutive playmaker, and it was when he dropped off in the second half of the campaign that his club’s form subsided.
Third was Andrea Pirlo, who was integral as Juventus won Serie A unbeaten last year.
Pirlo was surprisingly released by the previous season’s champions, AC Milan, and the deep lying playmaker’s switch to Turin was largely credited as the key reason for Juventus’ title success.
Sitting at the base of the midfield, he was afforded time and space by too many opponents, and was able to dominate proceedings as Juventus romped to their first title since the Calciopoli scandal.
Franck Ribery was fourth after another good season for Bayern Munich, who missed out on domestic honours in both the league and cup to Borussia Dortmund.
Bayern also lost in the final of the Champions League to Chelsea, but Ribery impressed throughout regardless.
Brazilian winger Nenê (pictured below) was fifth after playing a key role in Paris St Germain’s ultimately fruitless title challenge in France.
Despite the club spending huge sums on the likes of Javier Pastore, Jérémy Menez and Thiago Motta, it was Nenê, a 2010 signing from Monaco, who shone the most.
His goalscoring ability and skill was a constant thorn in the side of opponents of the Parisians, though he was unable to help his team overhaul Montpellier to win the French title.
Cristiano Ronaldo was the most effective player in regards to shooting only this season, with Real Madrid teammate Mesut Ozil the best creator of chances.
Barcelona’s Xavi was the best distributor of the ball, somewhat unsurprisingly, with Juventus’ Chilean midfielder Arturo Vidal the best at recovery.
Another notable player according to the Football Observatory was Mathieu Valbuena of Marseille.
The attacking midfielder shone despite his club enduring a catastrophic campaign which was marred by infighting between sporting director Jose Anigo and manager Didier Deschamps.
Valbuena was still Ligue 1’s most effective creator of chances and take on, and the third most effective player in the league behind Nenê and new Chelsea signing Eden Hazard.
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