Lionel Messi, Sergio Ramos, Gerard Pique, Karim Benzema…they have been in the thick of El Clasico action for a very long time, and they will be back in business for the latest edition on Saturday.
But the face of the most famous fixture in football is slowly changing, and the key headline makers in this weekend’s meeting between Barcelona and Real Madrid could be a pair of young players who are among the very best rising stars in the game.
Is this the time for Ansu Fati or Vinicius Junior to make El Clasico their own? Let’s delve deeper and find out which player has had the more impressive career so far.
There are plenty of similarities between the two, who have both started the season in excellent form and are likely to be selected from the opening whistle on Saturday.
Both currently have starting positions on the left wing, love to drift inside and are expected to become more central players in years to come; both are very skilful on the ball, capable of beating defenders with mazy dribbling and explosive pace to either threaten goal themselves or create chances for their teammates.
But there are differences too, and as we start to look at their career stats to date perhaps the most significant is that Fati has been much more decisive in front of goal, whereas finishing is probably the biggest area for improvement in Vinicius’s game.
Even though he has taken far fewer shots on target (16 against 35), the Barcelona player has easily outscored his Real counterpart in La Liga since they broke into the first team, netting 10 goals to 7.
That has happened despite Fati so far receiving much less overall playing time than Vinicius, and when their goalscoring exploits are viewed in terms of goals per minute played, the difference is even more stark: Fati has mustered an impressive 0.71 goals per 90 minutes, with Vinicius managing only 0.25.
And that isn’t because Fati has been given easier chances – his La Liga career expected goals tally is 4.4 compared to Vinicius’s 9.4. In that sense, Fati is significantly overachieving (10 goals scored against 4.4 expected), whereas Vinicius has been below expectations (7 goals scored against 9.4 expected), so it is clear which of the two is the better finisher.
However, it should be noted that it’s unrealistic to expect Fati to maintain his spectacular conversion rate (10 goals for 16 shots on target really is quite astonishing), and those numbers could very easily even out in due course.
Alphonso Davies comes out on top in our 𝗚𝗼𝗹𝗱𝗲𝗻 𝗕𝗼𝘆 vote 🏆 pic.twitter.com/3X9v3nzoFB
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Fati also gets more involved in his team’s build-up play, averaging 47.8 pass attempts per 90 minutes against 35.3 for Vinicius and doing so with greater accuracy (82.5% pass completion for Fati, 76.7 for Vinicius). And the Barcelona player makes more attacking impact with his passing, averaging a progressive distance (passes directed towards the opposition goal) of 87.2 yards per 90 minutes, with Vinicius’s passes advancing the ball an average of 79.2 yards.
That is also reflected in the possession stats: Fati has averaged 63.7 touches per 90 minutes over the course of his La Liga career, whereas Vinicius’ figure is significantly lower at 51.3 touches of the ball.
Vinicius, though, does hold his position on the left flank more regularly to send deliveries into the box, averaging 2.8 crosses per 90 minutes compared to Fati’s 2.0. And that perhaps helps explain why the Brazilian just has the edge in terms of overall chance creation, averaging 3.65 shot creating actions per 90 minutes, against 3.44 for Fati.
Defensively, Vinicius has been carrying out slightly more effective work for his team. He has averaged 0.93 successful tackles per 90 minutes, compared to Fati’s 0.79, and pressures the opposition slightly more regularly – 19.5 pressures per game, against 18.6. The Madrid man has also made 5.7 ball recoveries per 90 minutes, with Fati managing fewer with 4.8.
Despite those defensive numbers, however, the only overall conclusion from all these figures is that Ansu Fati so far has the statistical edge over Vinicius Junior in their still-young La Liga careers, especially when one final and somewhat surprising number is taken into consideration: despite the team’s troubles last season, with Fati on the pitch Barca have averaged 2.0 points per game; with Vinicius, reigning champions Real have only taken 1.96 points per game.
Will that statistical superiority convert into a match-winning role for Fati on Saturday afternoon? Or will Vinicius turn the tide back in his favour? It will be fascinating to find out, and their personal rivalry is poised to become one of the main features of the fixture for years to come.
