Features
SAT 21.03.2015
Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo, Luis Suárez, Karim Benzema, Neymar and Gareth Bale will be the men in charge of providing the spectacle in attack when FC Barcelona and Real Madrid meet on matchday 28 of the Liga BBVA season. Six world-class front men, ferocious strikers, who have a keen eye for goal and the ability to decide the championship. LFP.es makes the most of this occasion to analyse each position on the park. In this edition, the forwards.
Goals scored
What is a striker if he does not score goals? Goals are his raison d’être, his speciality, where his essence lies on the pitch. In this area of the park the two greatest players in the world stand head and shoulders above their team-mates. Both sides are very evenly matched up front and their attacking trios are only separated by one goal.
Los azulgranas have notched up 56 goals, whilst los blancos have 55 to their name. Lionel Messi has scored 32 times during the current Liga BBVA season, whilst Cristiano Ronaldo has hit the target on 30 occasions. These two players are insatiable when it comes to finding the back of the net, a fact they will make evident once again against their bitter rivals.
Shots on goal
In order to score goals you must try every possible angle. With headers, back heels, bicycle kicks, from inside and outside the box, what matters is that you try and in that aspect Real Madrid possess the most tenacious attack with 131 attempts produced by their forwards compared with the 120 efforts on goal offered up by Luis Enrique’s forward men.
Lionel Messi has scored 32 times during the current Liga BBVA campaign, whilst Cristiano Ronaldo has hit the target on 30 occasions.
The standout men in this category for Real Madrid and Barcelona are yet again Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi. The Madeira native has had 71 shots, while the Argentine has had 66 attempts on goal. Both players make a clear case regarding their class and competitive spirit not just with the amount of goals they score, but also with the hunger they display to breech their opposition’s net.
Strike success rate
Although Messi and Cristiano lead the charts in the aforementioned categories, when it comes to strike success rates in front of goal, the top men are Neymar and Karim Benzema. The Brazilian is the most effect of the three Barcelona strikers with 34% efficiency, having scored 17 times from 31 efforts on goal. Meanwhile, the Frenchman, who has racked up 13 goals this season, possesses a 26% success rate in front of goal.
Assists
In order for the forward line to work properly and for the team to score, the players need to by fully focused at all times to set up their best-positioned team-mates. The Barcelona attacking trio have provided 27 assists in Liga BBVA, with Lionel Messi’s 14 making up a sizeable portion of that tally, and he is followed by Luis Suárez’s nine. Meanwhile, los blanco’s three forward men have clocked up 24 assists, led by Ronaldo, who has turned provider on eleven occasions.
© LALIGA - 2015