Messi breaks into Europe’s top 10 assist makers
Robin Bairner
- Updated: 21 Feb 2022 17:03 GMT
- 3 min read
Lionel Messi’s move to Paris Saint-Germain has been widely branded a flop, yet the former Barcelona star is quietly amassing some impressive assist numbers with the Ligue 1 club.
Indeed, Messi has moved into the leading 10 assist makers in Europe this season, having chalked up his eighth decisive pass of the season against Nantes on Saturday.
PSG were outplayed in the first 45 minutes of that clash and trailed 3-0 at the break, yet 30 seconds after the restart, a characteristically brilliant pass from the Argentine released Neymar. The Brazilian finished the job, cutting inside centre-back Jean-Charles Castelletto before firing into the net.
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Messi is not registering the number of goals that he traditionally has in his career – he has only seven goals for the season, two of which have been scored in Ligue 1 – but in terms of assists he is increasingly producing impressive numbers.
Indeed, he has not created goals in each of his last four league fixtures. Corner kicks provided Marco Verratti and Presnel Kimpembe with goals in fixtures against Reims and Lille, while he set up Mbappe for a late winner against Rennes. He kept the run going against Nantes, having been quieter against Real Madrid in the Champions League.
Who has created the most goals this season?
Messi’s eighth assist of the season has seen him break into the top 10 decisive passers in Europe’s ‘Big 5’ leagues this season.
That number, however, is just half as many as Bayern Munich star Thomas Muller has managed in the Bundesliga. The Germany international star has streaked ahead of everyone in this category this season.
Europe's Leading Assist Makers 21/22 (19 Feb)
| Player | Team | Assists |
|---|---|---|
| Thomas Muller | Bayern Munich | 16 |
| Trent Alexander-Arnold | Liverpool | 10 |
| Kylian Mbappe | PSG | 10 |
| Florian Wirtz | Bayer Leverkusen | 10 |
| Mohamed Salah | Liverpool | 9 |
| Domenico Berardi | Sassuolo | 9 |
| Oscar Trejo | Rayo Vallecano | 9 |
| Dimitri Payet | Marseille | 9 |
| Jonathan Clauss | Lens | 9 |
| Lionel Messi | PSG | 8 |
| Andrew Robertson | Liverpool | 8 |
| Hakan Calhanoglu | Inter | 8 |
| Serej Milinkovic-Savic | Lazio | 8 |
Indeed, Messi is not even the leading assist maker at PSG. That honour goes to Mbappe, who is sitting on 10 along with Florian Wirtz of Bayer Leverkusen and Trent Alexander-Arnold of Liverpool.
Anfield favourite Mohamed Salah and fellow Ligue 1 players Jonathan Clauss and Dimitri Payet are among those players sitting on nine assists for the season.
