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28.05.2007 13:57

The deadliest attacking trio in Europe

Sergi Nogueras/Miriam Nadal


The Barça forward line made up of Messi, Ronaldinho and Eto’o has the best averages of any attacking trio in the major European leagues.


Only Roma and Manchester United get anywhere near to equalling the effectiveness of the Barça trio. Between them, Messi, Ronaldinho and Eto’o have scored in 56.9% of the matches they have played, leaving the Italian trio (41.7%) and English trio (41.1%) way behind.

Totti’s Roma

tottimancini11.jpgThe Roma attacking trio, made up of Francesco Totti, Alessandro Mancini and Simone Perrotta, has scored 42 goals and played in nearly every Italian league match this season. Perrota has scored 8 goals in 34 matches (that’s 23.5% of the matches); Mancini, 8 goals in 29 matches (27.5%), and Serie A top scorer Francesco Totti 26 goals in 35 matches (74.2%).

Young Manchester strike force

rooney_ronaldo.jpgManchester United’s Wayne Rooney, Cristiano Ronaldo and Louis Saha constitute one of the other star attacks in European football, with 39 goals to their credit. They enjoy the advantage of having been largely injury-free and available to manager Alex Ferguson all season, unlike Messi and Eto’o. Cristiano Ronaldo has a 50% strike rate, having scored 17 goals in 34 matches; Rooney 40% with 14 goals in 35 matches and French international Louis Saha 33.3% with 8 goals in 24 matches.

Deadly strike rate

However, the statistics of Messi, Ronaldinho and Eto’o are much better than their Italian and English counterparts. Eto’o has the best average strike rate with 11 goals in 17 matches, an average of 64.7%. Ronaldinho comes a close second with 20 goals in 31 matches (64.5 %) and Leo Messi third with 10 goals in 24 league matches (41.6%).

The overall picture

IJ2N0054.jpgSo, despite the enforced absence due to injury of two of the three first-choice forwards for much of the season (they’ve missed 27 league matches through injury), the combination of Messi, Ronaldinho and Eto’o has proved to be the deadliest in Europe in terms of average strike rate. They are also just one goal behind Roma (42 goals to 41) in the total number of goals scored and, with the Italian and English leagues already over, they still have a good chance of overtaking Totti and co.
The deadliest attacking trio in Europe
Not dependant on one man
It’s also worth pointing that while Barça have two free-scoring forwards in Eto'o and Ronaldinho, the goals are not so widely shared out in other teams. Most clubs have to rely on one effective goal scorer, such as the case of Roma with Totti. However, in Barça, Ronaldinho and Eto’o have very similar statistics.


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