Proof Messi has been the unluckiest player in Europe this season
Robin Bairner
- 9 May 2022 17:40 BST
- 3 min read
Lionel Messi’s first season with PSG is set to go down in infamy, with the former Barcelona star having scored only four league goals this season.
Messi had grown used to being prolific during his years at Camp Nou and enjoyed a run of 12 successive seasons in which he scored at least 25 goals. Indeed, he had struck double figures ever year for the last 15, while he even managed six in 17 games during the 2005/06 campaign, meaning this will almost certainly be his poorest scoring season since 2004/05, when he played a handful of minutes.
Things could have panned out very different for the Argentine, however, had he had a little more luck on his side.
This is proven by the fact that no player in Europe’s big five leagues has hit the woodwork as much as Messi this season.
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How many times has Messi hit the woodwork this season?
Indeed, he twice hit the frame of the goal during Sunday’s Ligue 1 clash against Troyes, which took his total to 10 efforts that hit the goalframe all season.
Messi leads this unusual classification by one shot over Bayern Munich’s prolific Robert Lewandowski, while he is one of only two players to have hit the post or bar at least five times and to have scored fewer goals. The other unfortunate figure in this category is Brentford striker Bryan Mbeumo.
Statistics show that for every shot Messi has had that has not been blocked, more than one in every six has hit the woodwork. This is a significantly higher rate than anyone who has managed more than 25 shots in Europe’s Big 5 leagues, with Mbeumo and Raul de Tomas of Espanyol the players closest to him in this regard.
Indeed, compare this to Lewandowski, who has found the post or bar with half as much frequency.
This certainly does not excuse Messi’s disappointing figures, but it does help to contextualise them and suggests PSG can hope to see better from him next season.
