seriously?? Messi even in the top 5?? come on... another gifted ballon d´or??

On the Messi and Ronaldo ratings debate - the objective from a forward's perspective is to score goals and you score goals by taking shots. Passes & dribbles are to get into scoring positions - but not always as Barca found out today. CR took 6 shots, 2 on target and 1 goal. Messi had 1 shot, 0 on target and 0 goals. Surely this set of stats should be given more weight than Messi's better stats in passes, touches and dribbles. Also, Thiago being man of the match here should throw a red flag that the algorithms are not perfect and need to be refined. Yes he had the most touches of the ball and highest passes, perhaps because Madrid identified him (and Busquets) as being the least threatening of the midfield/attackers combo - so they pressed Messi, Xavi, Iniesta, even Tello and Alves a lot more and let Thiago and Busquets have the ball around the half way line. Another statistic I would like to see used is distance covered. That may help with the controlling space stat.

Barca did not play 4-3-3! Alves was a right winger, Iniesta a central midfielder, Puyol the right back of the the three, and Busquets dropping in to partner Mascherano at times, but mostly playing a holding role in midfield. Get yer basics roite...

The problem with the ratings is that there's an assumption in the algorithm that both teams want the ball, and the more of the ball you see (passes, touches etc.), the higher the rating. In reality however, teams sometimes choose to control the space instead of the ball, which leads to illogical ratings. The ratings aren't flawed, the system just appreciates the ball more than the space, or quality. That's also why attacking and midfield players have so much better ratings than defensive players- the latter group control the space 90% of the time.

Illmatic74: I think so, but it is incredible that dribbles are considered as a more relevant criteria than goals! And "key passes" are a very subjective notion...

can anybody explain the rating algorithmus?

I prefer this site's algorithm to any subjective rating system. Sure it could use some refinement, but at least it is based on real statistical performance. Perhaps 2/3 should be based on statistical performance and 1/3 on empirical evaluation by a real human being. If you want ratings based on what side of the bed a certain someone woke up on a particular day, go to goal.com.

mmm, the rating here seems fishy. Ive always tought that your rating system gave the best player of the game almost every time, THIAGO ALCANTARA???? no way. Cristiano should have a much higher rating, messi didnt give a 7.3 game, but mostly he didnt played better than Cristiano!, are you kidding, hopefully you will fix your rating algorithm here, make sure you prize the goal/opp ratio. That would make Cr7 one of the best rated, also on the last game from chelsea-barcelona i agree petr cech was the best player but drogba should have been up there with him.

I agree AlanRikkin... He always has a very positive rating even when he is poor. Tonight, I didn't see him in the second half.

Messi rating > ronaldo rating? What a joke...

outplayed

wooooow! wtf? rm 1-0 bfc!

Barca will win 3-1 Real Madrid ! VISCA EL BARCA

BARCA!!! WIN!!!