Stats Analysis: Europe's Most Successful Dribblers (Revisited)

When one thinks of the best dribblers in Europe names spring to mind such as Messi, Bale, Ribery..... Cohade? WhoScored investigates the most successful dribblers in Europe to have attempted at least 20 forays past opponents to gauge who gets the better of their man with the most regularity, with the Valenciennes midfielder leading the way with some exceptional figures.

It's fair to say that the results bought up a number of shocking findings; so to highlight the success of those who lead the way in their respective leagues we have compared the top 3 for completion rate with 3 names more synonymous with the art of dribbling.

With the dribbles per game rate remarkably higher in Germany than any other league it came as little surprise to see over half of the top 50 coming from the Bundesliga. The Premier League has the second highest representation with 10 players in the top 50, while Spain's La Liga possesses just two. However, we start in France's Ligue 1 and with a number of young players exciting in the division, it is the steady head of Renaud Cohade who tops the pile.

Ligue 1

Playing in a fairly deep role for Valenciennes, Cohade is a key player for the club, making the most passes, tackles, interceptions and dribbles for the team. The latter, however, is not a feature to his game for which he is best known, but with figures of 21 successful dribbles out of 23 attempts leading to a 91% success rate, maybe it should be.

While Cohade can round an opponent on either side more freely, the left-back pairing of Lucas Mareque (Lorient) and Henri Bedimo (Montepellier), who occupy second and third in the league, often have fewer options when running at their opposite numbers. Their respective success rates of 72% and 71% are therefore impressive but way down on Cohade's European record thus far.

When pondering France's most successful dribblers one could be forgiven for assuming the likes of Ayew, Hazard and Menez would be high up. Attempting to take on opponents with increased regularity will often lead to a downgrade in statistics, however, with wingers often not picking their chances as wisely as the likes of central players such as Cohade. The trio rank in the aforementioned order, with Ayew's 54% success rate leading the way having beaten his opponent on 34 out of 63 attempts.

Bundesliga

Germany's top-flight is full of marauding wingers and in turn has the most successful in Europe, be it down to individual skill or defensive ineptitude. However, you would do well to predict the fact that HSV's Heiko Westermann is the most successful. The German comes out of defence often, much like a certain Brazilian who will be covered later in the article, to complete 24 out of 28 dribble attempts (84%).

The 28-year-old's record is second only to Cohade but matched by another Bundesliga-based star in Stuttgart new-boy William Kvist. The Dane impressed captaining Copenhagen last term to earn a move and has not disappointed in the heart of the midfield, with identical figures to Westermann in terms of dribbling, while Cologne full-back Miso Brecko (84%) rounds off the top 3.

The aforementioned Westermann's Hamburg teammate Gokhan Tore has built up quite a reputation for his dribbling since moving from Chelsea in the summer having completed 5 more than Messi this season. The young winger's stats are very encouraging when it comes to success rate also, rounding an opponent 69% of the time compared to the likes of Ribery (53%) and Gotze (52%).

Premier League

The Premier League is packed with creative types and tricky wingers who beat a man more often than not, right? Wrong. The most successful dribbler in England this season is Chelsea's Ramires who is one of very few players to be flourishing under Andre Villas-Boas' management right now. The Brazilian is coming out of his shell more with every game and has beaten his opponent on 34 of 46 attempts (74%).

Close behind in second, and credit to his superb skills, is United playmaker Nani, who is the only out and out winger to rank in any of Europe's leading divisions' top 3 for dribble success rate. The Portuguese international has filled the void left by compatriot Ronaldo and his dribble statistics are far superior, beating a man 73% of the time. This rate is bound to be equalled by another flair player, maybe Nigel Reo-Coker?! The Bolton man is playing in a more advanced role than usual and has gone round his opponent 22 times from 30 dribble attempts.

While the youngsters Victor Moses (46%) and Junior Hoilett (48%) lead the league for dribbles per game, neither outfox their opponent more often than not, which is something that Spurs wide man Gareth Bale can't quite boast either. The Welshman has gone round his prey on 36 occasions this season, which is exactly half of his 72 attempts (50%).

Serie A

The fact that a centre-back is the least surprising league leader in this article is credit to the dribbling exploits of Inter Milan's towering Brazilian Lucio. The sight of the veteran defender, now 33, storming his way out from the back is a familiar one in Serie A, and shows no signs of stopping just yet! A key player in Ranieri's new stable approach, Lucio is still afforded the license to roam out of defence, and why not when he has completed 75% of his 28 attempts?

Defensive midfielders Gabi Mudingayi (Bologna) and Kwadwo Asamoah (Udinese) rank second and third, with the former representing the only player analysed here who hasn't completed at least 1 dribble per game (0.9). The Belgian has beaten his man with 17 of 24 dribble attempts, while Udinese's Asamoah is somewhat more adventurous from deep having attempted 42 dribbles, of which 29 have been successful.

Parma's Jonathan Biabiany has completed the most dribbles per game in the league (63), but having attempted a whopping 111 his success rate is down at 57%, just marginally less than Napoli's Lavezzi. Fiorentina youngster Stevan Jovetic is renowned in Italy for his creativity and flair but having attempted 88 dribbles, he has rounded his man just 47% of the time.

La Liga

The fact that Spain's top league can only muster 2 players in the top 50 here is quite something. Barcelona's new wonderkid, of which there are set to be many, Thiago Alcantara has the best success rate in a division including Messi, having completed 70% of his dribble attempts thus far (16/23). Madrid left-back Marcelo is not far behind (69%) and certainly trumps teammate Cristiano Ronaldo, whose stats are somewhat unbelievable.

When looking at the Portuguese's dribbles per game rate (1.3) one would assume that he just doesn't attempt the amount of dribbles that he used to. This is not exactly true as the Madrid winger has tried to take on an opponent 74 times this season, but succeeding with just 24, has a pretty abysmal success rate of 32%. Lionel Messi's completion of 56% is also way down on what you would expect, though he has completed more dribbles (96) than Ronaldo has even attempted, and indeed the second most in Europe.

So there you have it. The nous to choose when to dribble an opponent is clearly a facet not lost on Bundesliga players, but maybe Cristiano Ronaldo could learn a thing or two from a trip to Germany, or perhaps to see Renaud Cohade, who has completed just 3 fewer dribbles despite attempting 51 less!