Barcelona's Lionel Messi, chance king of football
He leads the big chances created list for the last five years
CIES Football Observatory has published the list of players who generate the most chances across the top five leagues, looking at different time periods. The last year, the last three years and the last five years. Stats show that Leo Messi is still the king.
The numbers reflect assists for chances with a high probability that they end up in a goal.
Messi is clearly ahead of the ranking in the last five and three years, while Angel Di Maria leads the way in the last year.
Using OptaPro data, the Argentine has created one big chance for team-mates every 90 minutes over the past half decade.
In the last one year, Di Maria (32 chances, one every 82 mins) and Thomas Muller (31, one every 73 mins) ahead ahead of Messi (29, one every 87 mins).
With 158 chances made over the last five years (one per 90 mins), Messi is ahead of Di Maria (109 chances). Man City's Kevin de Bruyne is third (94 chances, one every 130 mins), while Neymar, Muller and Luis Suarez are next.
Cristiano Ronaldo is 33rd on the five seasons list, generating a chance every 300 minutes.
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