Messi beats real madrid rival Cristiano Ronaldo to top the Castrol Rankings

Barcelona star Lionel Messi is the World’s top performing player for the 2009/10 campaign according to the end of season Castrol Rankings, beating off competition from Real Madrid rival Cristiano Ronaldo and Chelsea’s Didier Drogba.

Castrol has applied the same expertise they apply to the development of their oils to create the Castrol Rankings – using objective analysis and highly advanced technology to measure every pass, every tackle and every single move of over 2,000 players and games from Europe’s top five leagues over the last 12 months.

That analysis shows the Argentina star will head into next month’s 2010 FIFA World Cup™ on the back of an outstanding season. Messi helped Barcelona claim a second successive La Liga title, scoring 34 league goals including 25 in 20 starts since the turn of the year, to make him the leading scorer across Europe’s top leagues.

Messi was also the top scorer in the UEFA Champions League with eight goals, including a four-goal haul against Arsenal at the Camp Nou in the quarter-finals in April which earned him the Castrol EDGE Performance of the Season with 2828 Castrol Rankings points.

Domestically his shooting accuracy rate of 66% was unmatched in La Liga, while in the UEFA Champions League, the forward struck a competition-high 28 shots on target. Messi has proved to be equally effective in creating chances for others with his return of ten assists in La Liga bettered only by Barca team-mate Xavi who provided 14 assists. He also completed an astonishing 145 dribbles in La Liga and 61 in the Champions League – more than any other player.

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Castrol Ambassador and 1998 FIFA World Cup™ winner Marcel Desailly said: “One of Messi’s greatest strengths over the past 12 months has been his consistency. He poses a threat in every game he plays and his skill on the ball means he can conjure a chance out of nothing.

Desailly added: “His ability to run with the ball stands out whenever you watch him play but he also has great intelligence and knows exactly when to release the ball. Many players can dribble but there has to be an end product and Messi frequently creates a shooting chance for himself or for any other team-mate.”

Didier Drogba’s efforts in helping Chelsea complete a first ever league and FA Cup double lifted the striker into third place in the Castrol Rankings, making him the top ranked Premier League player ahead of Manchester United’s Wayne Rooney who lies fourth. The Premier League’s top goalscorer with 29 goals, Drogba struck 67 shots on target, more than another Premier League player, whilst providing ten assists for teammates.

Arjen Robben (5th) is the top ranked Bundesliga player. The Dutch winger helped his club to their 22nd league title by scoring 16 goals in 26 appearances with 12 of those goals coming since the turn of the year. The winger also saved his best Champions League form until the later stages of the competition, scoring against Fiorentina (twice), against Manchester United and Lyon in the knock-out rounds.

Mevlut Erding is in 42nd place making him the highest ranked Ligue 1 player. The Paris St Germain striker has scored 15 league goals and shown impressive accuracy by finding the target with 55% of his attempts on goal.

Udinese striker Antonio Di Natale (ranked 27th overall) tops the Serie A list after heading the Italian league’s scoring charts with 29 goals. Di Natale also provided six assists, meaning he was involved in 65% of his side’s goals (35 out of 54) and was the key figure in the club’s survival battle against relegation. He also attempted the most shots in the Italian top-flight (152), and tested the keeper more times than any other player with 71 shots on target.

To see the full Castrol Rankings please go to www.castrolfootball.com. The Castrol Rankings will next be updated in September 2010 once the European domestic season is back under way. The Castrol Index will run during the FIFA World Cup™ at fifa.com/castrolindex.

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