- 6/22/2025
8 Wild Charts Breaking Down Football Like You’ve NEVER Seen
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00:00This is Lamin Yamel, a 17 year old phenomenon already seen by most football fans as one of the best players in the game.
00:08But that's a massive understatement.
00:11This chart tracks dribbles and through balls per game. Through balls ain't just passes.
00:16They are the fans splitting plays only the most gifted can pull off.
00:21Plotted on this chart, you'll find the game's most unpredictable playmakers.
00:25You've got the visionaries, Odegaard, Pedri and Palmer.
00:29Down here, you've got the ankle breakers.
00:31Vini, Savio, Musiala and Leon.
00:34But then, two names pop off the chart.
00:36Wurz, Germany's golden boy, 21 and already cooking.
00:41And in first place, there's a kid bullying grown men like it's nothing.
00:45Lamin Yamal, a 17 year old who's not just competing.
00:49He's already leading the world's most popular sport in creativity.
00:53Not someday, not in a few years, right now.
00:56So forget to talk about him not scoring 50 goals a season.
01:00What you're seeing is a playmaking genius, not a stat padder.
01:03But when I talk about imagination on the pitch, I gotta bring up the most entertaining,
01:08most gifted, most natural footballer in history.
01:12Neymar Jr.
01:14He is by far the most creative player I've ever laid eyes on.
01:20Man, this is unbelievable.
01:22I do not care what trophies he has won.
01:24This guy is the embodiment of football's purest art form.
01:27But Neymar and his creativity is not the only crazy phenomenon that looks absurd when you put it on a chart.
01:34For example, a while back, I broke down the top World Cup playmakers using advanced data.
01:39But then I asked a bigger question.
01:41What's the single greatest World Cup run ever recorded?
01:45So I went all the way back to 1966.
01:48And buried in that data, I found a name.
01:51A name that rarely comes up in GOAT conversations.
01:54But maybe, just maybe, it should.
01:57This chart shows the top 30 World Cup runs of all time.
02:01You'll see R9's 2002 dominance.
02:04Neymar's underperformance still makes the list.
02:07Hazard is in there too.
02:09Up in the top 10, there is Messi's last campaign.
02:12Maradona in 86.
02:14And 3 players from Brazil's 1970 squad.
02:17Pelé, Rivalino and Jairzinho.
02:19Which is ridiculous.
02:21But now look at this.
02:22The top 3 runs didn't even win the World Cup.
02:25You've got Gerd Müller in 1970, scoring 10 goals in a single campaign.
02:30Far from everyone else is Cruyff, changing football forever in 1974.
02:35But the greatest run of all time?
02:38A Portuguese legend, forgotten by time, known as Eusebio.
02:42With the stat line so brutal, it still hasn't been matched.
02:459 goals, 1 assist and 6 dribbles per game.
02:48And forget the different era excuse, goal averages haven't changed that much.
02:53This was generational violence.
02:55Now, I know what you're thinking.
02:57Where's Cristiano?
02:58For all his greatness.
03:00He's missing from history's biggest stage.
03:03His highest rated World Cup run?
03:056.92.
03:06And in 2022, when the world was watching to see if he would checkmate Messi?
03:116.46.
03:12With an underperformance so insane, it's hard to believe in.
03:16For a guy chasing GOAT status, this is rough.
03:20Can you really be the GOAT without a World Cup legacy?
03:23I'm not sure.
03:24But history says greatness shows up on the biggest stage.
03:27Cristiano says he'll be back in 2026.
03:30And I hope he does.
03:32Because he still owes us one legendary run.
03:35And if that shifted how you see some of the all-time greats,
03:38then you need to hear what the current Palindor winner has just pulled off.
03:42Because Rodri might just be the hardest player to beat in football history.
03:46Look at this chart.
03:48Longest unbeaten streaks in games played.
03:50For perspective, both Ronaldo and Messi managed streaks of around 40 games at their peaks.
03:56But higher up, you've got Ricardo Carvalho, who was a brick wall in 2006.
04:01Near the top, you have Maldini.
04:03Widely considered the greatest defender ever, managed an insane 73-game unbeaten streak.
04:09Yet, at the very top, breaking a record that stood for nearly 30 years, is Rodri.
04:15One of the most undervalued players I've seen in a while.
04:19He might look invisible on the pitch, but somehow when he plays, his team just doesn't lose.
04:24With Rodri, City became near invincible.
04:27Without him, they fell apart.
04:29This chart might not be the most impressive, but it should be.
04:32Because this is what real impact looks like.
04:35Some fans thought Vinicius got robbed out of the Ballon d'Or.
04:38But let me tell you, Rodri did not steal that award.
04:41He earned it by doing the hardest thing in football.
04:45Never losing.
04:46But while some players dominate without ever dribbling, others built their whole legacy on that.
04:52A legacy that doesn't always hold up.
04:55You see, everyone talks about R9, Dinho and Zidane as the greatest magicians to ever grace the field.
05:01The 2000s are often called football's peak dribbling days.
05:04But with fresh Champions League data from 2003 onward, we can finally get a true look at the best dribblers of the 21st century.
05:13And what you're about to see might change how you remember some of the biggest legends.
05:18This chart shows how often players tried to beat defenders and how often they succeeded.
05:23Blue dots? That's midfield dribblers.
05:25Red dots? Final third dribblers.
05:27Where dribbling is way harder.
05:29Most players either spam dribbles with low success or pick their moments with high success.
05:34But only a few legends broke 80% success rate.
05:38Can you guess them?
05:39You were not touching the ball when they had it.
05:41This was Zidane, Juninho and Xavi.
05:44With Xavi topping them all as the most efficient dribbler ever.
05:48But then there's Robben, a 19 year old kid who at the time was rewriting the definition of dribbling.
05:55He had one move, but no one could stop it.
05:58Nearly 80% success at 5 dribbles per game in the final third is absurd.
06:03Far from everyone else is 2005 Ronaldinho.
06:06Not only did he do a ton of dribbles, he barely ever missed.
06:10This was the Prime Dinho we all remember.
06:12Then a name I was surprised to see here.
06:14Statistically, even more unhinged than Prime Dinho.
06:172004 Javier Zanetti.
06:19Played deeper, sure.
06:20But that level of dribbling is still extremely underappreciated.
06:24But for all the talk about the Golden Generation, it was not the past that owned the art of the dribble.
06:29It was Neymar, Messi and Hazard.
06:32True dribbling demons.
06:34No one else combined volume and efficiency like those three.
06:38You see, we remember legends by their highlights.
06:41But the data?
06:42It remembers who really did it.
06:44Every single game.
06:45But how do they compare to the all time greats?
06:48Well, I've got data going back to the 1966 World Cup.
06:52So let's see not just who the best dribblers of this century are, but of all time.
06:56You've got names like Platini, Pele and Bobby Charlton as good dribblers.
07:00Beckenbauer was an underrated, prolific dribbler.
07:04Maybe the most all-around player of all time.
07:07You know, they say Bellingham is the new Zizou.
07:10But honestly, he's way more like Beckenbauer.
07:13Then there's Cruyff in 74.
07:154.9 dribbles per game at a 60% success rate.
07:18Better than I expected?
07:20That's an understatement.
07:21This guy did everything right.
07:23Eusebio in 66 is pretty much on par with Ronaldinho's prime.
07:28But only one old school icon reaches modern GOAT levels.
07:31El Dios himself, Maradona.
07:34In 86, he averaged nearly 8 dribbles per game with a 60% success rate.
07:40Unbelievable track record and reinforces his GOAT status, despite a short peak.
07:45Now look, this chart is far from perfect, but it paints a pretty damn accurate picture
07:51of who the coldest dribblers in football history really were.
07:54Before anyone asks, Arnine didn't make it here.
07:57His World Cup dribbling numbers?
07:59Honestly, they're not as crazy as you'd think.
08:01When it comes to dribbling, there's everyone else.
08:04And then there's Messi, Neymar, Hazard and Maradona.
08:08If you've ever watched them live, you know the feeling.
08:11Every time they touched the ball, it felt like something special was about to happen.
08:14They didn't just beat their man.
08:16They tore entire defenses apart with a glance, a shimmy, a drop of the shoulder.
08:22They made football feel like art.
08:24And the numbers?
08:25They back it up.
08:26But here's the thing.
08:27Numbers can be deceptive, depending on how you look at them.
08:30And the most overrated stat in all of football is goals.
08:33Fans have been conditioned to think the more goals you score, the better you are.
08:37But what most fans don't realize is that there are newer statistics
08:41that prove that mindset is far from the truth.
08:44Take a look at this chart, for instance.
08:46It tracks shots taken.
08:48All these players scored 35 goals.
08:50But how many shots they needed to get there is the main difference.
08:53Ronaldo took 227 shots.
08:56Haaland almost half.
08:58This is crazy.
08:59Suddenly, it is not about how many.
09:01It's about how well.
09:02But let's go deeper.
09:04There is a goal scoring stat line, where Cristiano just dominates.
09:07It is his most underrated skill.
09:09And no, it's not scoring.
09:11It's expected goals.
09:12A stat line that has exploded in popularity, but is still massively misunderstood.
09:17See, XG is not about finishing.
09:20It's about chance quality.
09:22Where you shoot and how you shoot.
09:24So what XG really shows is who's constantly getting into the most dangerous opportunities.
09:29For example, in this chart, we have the top 12 players with the highest expected goals from 2015 to 2020.
09:36As you can see, most of these players are between 100 and 130 XG.
09:42Kane, Aguero, Suarez.
09:44You see mainly strikers because they live in the box.
09:47These guys didn't just get handed chances, they found them.
09:50Like a lion in the jungle, sensing the perfect moment to attack.
09:54A sixth sense for opportunity.
09:56But then you look at the top.
09:58The top predators of football.
10:00Messi, Lewandowski.
10:01And with a comfortable lead standing above them all.
10:05Cristiano Ronaldo.
10:07This, right here, is what made Cristiano different.
10:10Not his dribbles or his passing, but his instinct.
10:13The ability to always be right where it matters.
10:16Before anyone even sees it coming.
10:19And it is why, in the jungle of world football, Cristiano was always the one at the top.
10:25But if you think this makes him the most clinical finisher, you're wrong.
10:29Cristiano doesn't even crack the top 10 in finishing ability.
10:32So, how do we measure true finishing ability?
10:35Well, you need a stat the data scientists love, but most fans don't even know exists.
10:40It's called XG over performance.
10:43Basically, it's the number of goals a player scores above what they were expected to, based on the quality of the chances they take.
10:50And once you look at that, the rankings of the game's best finishers changes entirely.
10:55Using the same dataset, I created a graph showing XG over performance.
11:01Despite racking up chances like the best of them, Lewandowski still fell 5 goals short of his XG.
11:07Benzema, Cavani and Neymar.
11:09They're all in that same camp.
11:11Great at finding chances, but not always great at finishing them.
11:16Cristiano, slightly above average, but not what you would call sharp.
11:20He's a volume shooter.
11:22His finishing isn't exactly out of this world.
11:25Moving up the list, overperforming by around 20 goals, Sun, Griezmann and Kane.
11:30They stand out at shot selection, showing incredible precision.
11:34At the top, once more, is the little one.
11:37Messi.
11:38With 36 goals above expectation, Messi sweeps everyone.
11:42With a level of consistency so absurd, it felt like he was not human.
11:47But, if you thought Messi was unstoppable over those 5 years, just wait until you see the numbers from his peak season.
11:54If I asked you to name the most efficient season in the beautiful game, most of y'all would instinctively say Messi's 2011-12.
12:01When he dropped 71 goals in 60 games.
12:04The most ever in a single season.
12:06Looking at his conversion, we get why this guy was melting scoring records left and right.
12:12In that season, Messi was expected to score 25 goals.
12:16He dropped 40.
12:17He overperformed by 14.4 goals.
12:20Light years ahead of anyone else.
12:22But you don't feel how ridiculous that is until you see it in context.
12:26This right here is a chart of the most efficient seasons over the past decade.
12:31After that, it's about two things.
12:33How many goals have you over-delivered?
12:35And how much you squeezed out of every chance?
12:38Down here, you've got the volume monsters.
12:41Taking 5-6 shots a game, blasting chances until one goes in.
12:45They still overperform, just with tons of attempts.
12:48You've got Ronaldo's brilliant 2014 season.
12:51With just 32 goals expected, he managed to score 40.
12:55Almost 8 free goals.
12:5725% overperformance.
12:59It was relentless.
13:00But it also means he had a lot of chances.
13:03Then, there's the sharpshooters.
13:05These players hit the sweet spot.
13:07Usually, they score around 30 goals but with way fewer chances.
13:11Take Harry Kane in 2016.
13:13Expected to score 20 goals.
13:15He hit 30.
13:1610 extra goals.
13:18Same with Immobile, Griezmann and Messi again.
13:21At the top, you have the guys who might not score tons of goals.
13:24But they do it with half the chances.
13:26And no one did it better than Dybala.
13:28In 2018, he delivered one of the most efficient goal-scoring seasons ever recorded.
13:34Expected to score just 10 goals.
13:36He gave you 20.
13:37You won't notice this when watching highlight reels.
13:40But if you sat down and watched the whole season again, you'd see it.
13:44And then, there's Messi.
13:46Who over-delivered by 15 goals with a 56% overperformance.
13:51Setting the standard for what is possible to do.
13:54That's not supposed to happen.
13:56But as unbelievable as Messi's 2012 season was, it was just the beginning of what would
14:02become the most improbable season in football history.
14:06Because going into the 2013 season, he did something even more absurd.
14:11From November 11th 2012 to May 5th 2013, Messi scored in every single league game he played.
14:1821 straight games.
14:20Messi's 2012 season was already better than everyone else's.
14:25But compared to what came from the very next season, it's nothing.
14:29Because across that stretch, Messi's shots were worth 17.6 expected goals.
14:34For a normal elite striker, that's about 17 goals.
14:37Statistically, there was a 0.01% chance that someone would score 31 goals from those chances.
14:44Messi, he scored 42.
14:47He provided his team with 25 extra goals.
14:50I've spent years of my life analyzing football data.
14:53And let me tell you, I have not seen a bigger statistical anomaly than this.
14:57We will see 40 goal seasons again.
14:59We will see guys break their expected goals now and then.
15:02But this, we will need to wait years, decades, to witness this happen again.
15:07In fact, you may need a lot more time than that.
15:10When you plot this data onto a bell curve, things get sinister.
15:14At first glance, Messi doesn't look that far from Dybala.
15:18But if you understand the math, your jaw should be on the floor.
15:22Because Messi's 2013 season wasn't just elite.
15:25It was nearly 5 standard deviations above the mean.
15:28That means the chance of a season this insane happening again is 1 in 1.64 million.
15:35And considering we see about 150 qualifying seasons per year,
15:40you would need to run this same experiment 10,927 times.
15:45That's 11 millennia.
15:47Meaning, if you started counting from the day humans first hunted mammoths,
15:51we'd still be waiting for another Messi.
15:54What Messi did goes beyond numbers.
15:57Beyond logic.
15:58Beyond anything we've seen from any player, in any era.
16:01At this level, math stops making sense.
16:04You don't just analyze the numbers.
16:06You stare at them, trying to make sense of something that shouldn't even be possible.
16:11From the finesse of his finishes to the poetry of his dribbles,
16:14Messi wasn't just a great player.
16:16He was the closest thing footballs ever had to perfection.
16:20So sure, let Cristiano wear the crown as the top scorer.
16:23But now you know.
16:24The real story was never just about goals.
16:27It was about greatness.
16:28Klaviyo
16:33We are all about greatness.
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