Researchers Assess Lionel Messi is Better than Cristiano Ronaldo

DBasia.news –  A number of researchers had conducted special research to end the debate over who is the world’s best player between Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo.

Reporting from the AS, a number of computer science professors at the University of KU Leuven worked closely with Dutch sports science experts in creating a player calculation program. The program is called Valuing Actions by Estimating Probabilities (VAEP).

The workings of the program had taken into account every action: shots, passes, dribbles, tackles, assists, and goals from an average of 1,600 appearances. KU Leuven University Professor, Jesse Davis, explained how the program works.

“The value of a player’s appearance in football is often determined based on goals and assists. However, goals are a rare event. On average, 1,600 appearances are estimated to occur in matches,” Davis stated.

“Our model calculates every action, shot, pass, dribble, tackle, and calculates their value,” he added.

That data is added to the players’ contribution to the team or the final result of the match. The study assesses the performance of Ronaldo and Messi from LaLiga in the 2013-14 to 2017-18 season. As a result, Messi’s points are higher (1.21) than Ronaldo (0.61).

“The study results show that Messi is more decisive with 1.21 points against his rival from Portugal (0.61). They (studies) got rid of the performance of each player from the Champions League, Copa del Rey and international matches, a factor that at some point could be the distinguishing key, “said a statement in AS.