The one stat that ‘proves’ Lionel Messi is world’s best

Given Messi is widely considered among the greatest players to ever play the game, that might not seem like too startling an insight. But Brundish has a set of statistics he believes sufficiently ends any debate on the matter.”Currently Messi has a goal or assist every 48 minutes,” Brundish says. “Bearing in mind that every game is almost 95 minutes long (when injury time is included) that’s two almost every single game.”Few can come close to these feats — although Cristiano Ronaldo has long had a comparable, and sometimes superior, goal scoring rate. More recently, the likes of Luis Suarez, Neymar, Kylian Mbappe and Mohamed Salah have also all excelled in scoring for their respective club and national teams.Yet Brundish says the real supremacy of Messi lies not only in his goalscoring feats but also how highly he rates in a statistic known as xG-Build. Read: Rival fans chant Messi’s name after hat-trickThis metric awards points to every player involved in a goal except from the person who supplied the final pass (assist) and the goalscorer.For example, if a goalkeeper started a move by passing to a defender, who then played the ball to winger before squaring for a striker to score, the goalkeeper and defender would score statistical points under the xG-Build system.Given Messi’s prodigious goal and assist rate, it would seem logical that his xG-build score would lag behind other players who have more of a role in the early stage build up to a goal given the spaces they usually occupy on the field. But Brundish says that’s not the case.Visit CNN.com/sport for more news, features and videosUsing 2017-18 full-season data from football statistics website, Understat, Messi scores considerably higher in xG-build than some of the world’s most potent playmakers, including Chelsea’s Eden Hazard, Arsenal’s Mesut Ozil and Tottenham’s Christian Eriksen. He also comfortably outpoints the likes of Ronaldo, Salah and Neymar. Combine all of those stats; Messi’s goals, assists and xG-Build score and Brundish asks of the best player in the world debate: “Where is the argument?”Is Messi the best player in the world? Tell us who’s better on CNN Sports Facebook page.