GUARD: GUILLERMO OCHOA (AC Ajaccio)
1-1 draw at Paris
Made 12 saves, four clear chances saved, 3 clearances punched

RIGHT SIDE: Dani Alves (Barcelona)
7-0 win against Levante
1 goal, 91% of successful passes, six recoveries

CENTRAL DEFENDER: Naldo (Wolfsburg)
3-0 win against Schalke 04
1 goal, 94% of successful passes, three interceptions

CENTRAL DEFENDERS: Gerard Piqué (Barcelona)
7-0 win against Levante
9 duels won (about 11), nine digs, seven clearances

LEFT SIDE: Cristian Ansaldi (Zenit St. Petersburg)
3-0 win against Anzhi Makhachkala
1 goal, 6 successful tackles (7), 8 duels won (12)

MIDDLE RIGHT: Vieirinha (Wolfsburg)
3-0 win against Schalke 04
1 goal, 1 shot on the amounts, 3 fouls suffered

CENTRAL MIDDLE: Roberto Firmino (Hoffenheim)
1-5 victory in Hamburg
2 goals, 3 assists, 9 balls hit into the opponent's area

CENTRAL MIDDLE: Roman Shirokov (Zenit St. Petersburg)
3-0 win against Anzhi Makhachkala
1 goal, 1 assist, 7 balls hit into the opponent's area

MIDDLE LEFT: Isco (Real Madrid)
2-1 win against Real Betis
1 goal, 1 assist, 10 fouls suffered

ATTACKING: Emmanuel Rivière (AS Monaco)
4-1 victory against Montpellier
3 goals, 8 balls hit in the box, 100% successful passes (8/8)

ATTACKING: **Lionel Messi (Barcelona)
7-0 win against Levante
2 goals, 1 assist, 12 balls hit into the opponent's area**

Sorry, tik_taka, but this seems worthless to me.

A player in a lower league, playing against another lower team, might rack up an excellent statistic. That does not mean they are the best player in their position in Europe, this week.

@Lodatz This is olnly based on stats, like for the golden boot, we dont compare leagues or opponents, only stats of the week in Europe, if you dont want to participate no pb.
If we think like you want us to do, we will even not compare best team of a league considering that facing Man united or City is not like facing Newcastle or QPR. Did you see my point ??

Ouch. Isco suffered 10 fouls in that ONE match? That's more than Ronaldo's average of 3 per game. >.<

If i could change something, i would prefer to create a 4-3-3 team just to include RVP in the list :)

@tiki: well, yes and no. My point is that the Russian league (and the French league, to be honest) is not of a high enough standard that the performances there can be seriously credited as the 'best' across Europe.

For example: some dude in Russian might make 8 interceptions in one game. Awesome. But, someone in Spain might make 3 BETTER interceptions, or 3 more important interceptions.

It's just silly to say that the above formation is representative of the best across the continent this week.

Not to rag on your team, but, Barcelona absolutely THRASHED Levante. Pique had next to nothing to do in that game. No wonder his stats are so high, but that doesn't mean he was the best performer. Do you see what I mean?

I don't agree cause i prefer to face QPR Levante or Newcastle than Zenith Galatasaray Porto Ajax or Psg even if their are considered by you in lower leagues.
and Pique did in that match what his stats indicated, it does not mean of course that he's the best a this post he isnt. where is the problem ? I just reported Opta stats who are considered best in Europe, its a chance for us to know some players of "lower leagues" that have decent stats as i told you, if you don't like move on.

There is no 'problem', dude. I just think it's not terribly valuable. Pique may have done what the stats indicated. If, however, every single one was something my grandmother could to, then it's meaningless.

As for the bit about who you would rather face, well, sure if you're going to cherry-pick the worst teams from a strong league vs the best teams from weak leagues, you may well get that result. However, I somehow think you'd rather face Krasnodar, or Olhanense before you'd face Newcastle or Levante. :p

^ Totally agree. I was watching the United - Swans game, and I can tell you that even though Pique may have the better stats, the tackles and interceptions that Vidic and Ferdinand made were much more difficult and important than whatever Pique did against Levante.

And van Persie's two goals against Swansea were considerably more difficult than Messi's tap-ins. Swansea are also a much more capable team than Levante too, so if this list was really accurate, RVP would be on there as well.

When Barça won 7-0, its the other team that is poor. Barça trashed all teams by big scores last years doesn't mean Valencia, Malaga....etc were terrible. you are never objective while talking about Barça, so Levante is weaker than Betis or swansea ?? that's your argument ? ok, the season is long, we will see.
@dynast i want him to be on the list too, but statically Messi did one assist more than RVP, it doesn't mean he played better, but since its about stats....

"but statically Messi did one assist more than RVP, it doesn't mean he played better, but since its about stats...."

And since the criticism is pointing out that in this case the stats are meaningless, or misleading...

It's pretty simple to grasp, unless one is deliberately trying not to. If you think that volume beats quality, then I think you have a strange idea of judging football.

opta is about stats, thats what i wanted to say, i never told that stats beats quality... this converstation is going nowhere, i will not talk to you about pique and messi's performance cause you didn't watch the game.

...and you didn't watch anyone else's.

C'mon, man. We don't need to play tit for tat, but it would take an enormous amount to convince me that in a game where Barcelona thrashed Levante 7-0 (5-0 by half-time), that Gerard Pique had anything difficult to do.

I also didn't say anything about Messi.

6-0 half time, something you will never see somewhere else, and yes it could be 7-1 or 7-2 but it was 7-0, levante were allowed to attack what do you think ? go watch matches....

SO it was 6-0 at half time. That's even more of an indication that Levante offered zero threat, and even more indication that Pique had nothing to do except clear long balls to the midfield.

If you watched the game, why don't you tell me about some awesome, special moments where Pique saved Barca from losing their clean sheet, hmmm?

What about RVP?

^^ Apparently, Emmanuel Rivière was better. :p

^good question utd, as i said MessiRVP could be the best attack but Opta is just about stats.

better than falcao in that match so why not, not that funny, everything is possible while judging in one match.

How about Fabregas? RVP?