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28.05.2007 13:57
The deadliest attacking trio in Europe
Sergi Nogueras/Miriam Nadal
The Barça forward line made up of Messi, Ronaldinho and Eto’o has the best averages of any attacking trio in the major European leagues.
Only Roma and Manchester United get anywhere near to equalling the effectiveness of the Barça trio. Between them, Messi, Ronaldinho and Eto’o have scored in 56.9% of the matches they have played, leaving the Italian trio (41.7%) and English trio (41.1%) way behind.
Totti’s Roma
The Roma attacking trio, made up of Francesco Totti,
Alessandro Mancini and Simone Perrotta, has scored 42 goals and played in nearly every Italian
league match this season. Perrota has scored 8 goals in 34 matches (that’s 23.5% of the
matches); Mancini, 8 goals in 29 matches (27.5%), and Serie A top scorer Francesco Totti 26 goals
in 35 matches (74.2%).
Young Manchester strike force
Manchester United’s Wayne Rooney, Cristiano Ronaldo and
Louis Saha constitute one of the other star attacks in European football, with 39 goals to their
credit. They enjoy the advantage of having been largely injury-free and available to manager Alex
Ferguson all season, unlike Messi and Eto’o. Cristiano Ronaldo has a 50% strike rate, having
scored 17 goals in 34 matches; Rooney 40% with 14 goals in 35 matches and French international
Louis Saha 33.3% with 8 goals in 24 matches.
Deadly strike rate
However, the statistics of Messi, Ronaldinho and Eto’o are much better than their Italian and English counterparts. Eto’o has the best average strike rate with 11 goals in 17 matches, an average of 64.7%. Ronaldinho comes a close second with 20 goals in 31 matches (64.5 %) and Leo Messi third with 10 goals in 24 league matches (41.6%).
The overall picture
So, despite the enforced absence due to injury of two of the
three first-choice forwards for much of the season (they’ve missed 27 league matches through
injury), the combination of Messi, Ronaldinho and Eto’o has proved to be the deadliest in
Europe in terms of average strike rate. They are also just one goal behind Roma (42 goals to 41) in
the total number of goals scored and, with the Italian and English leagues already over, they still
have a good chance of overtaking Totti and co.
Not dependant on one man
It’s also worth pointing that while Barça have two free-scoring forwards in Eto'o and
Ronaldinho, the goals are not so widely shared out in other teams. Most clubs have to rely on one
effective goal scorer, such as the case of Roma with Totti. However, in Barça, Ronaldinho and
Eto’o have very similar statistics.
