This season, football fans especially of the two respective clubs Real Madrid and FC Barcelona came across the debate of who is the better midfielder, Pedri or Bellingham. Let’s have a look at how Madrid fan’s logic backfires in their statements.
Their Pointless Logic
For months, Madrid fans have made the same chants: Jude Bellingham is better than Pedri because he “decides games” with goals and assists. According to them, stats rule everything in football, they think playing beautiful football without staggering numbers is completely pointless. Fair enough. Let’s apply the same logic to one of their legends—Toni Kroos. I respect Kroos as a player and have nothing against him, there is no doubt he is a legend of this game, but let’s put Madrid fans’ logic to the test.
Kroos Best Season (2023-24)
When Rodri was awarded the Balon D’ Or over Vini Jr, Madrid fans were in rage and stated that the Balon d ‘Or is pointless and rigged. They even stated Kroos who was ranked 9th had better season than Rodri and deserved the award more.
Let’s have a breakdown of Kroos’ stats in 2023-2024:
| 📊 Stat | 📈 Value |
|---|---|
| Shot Accuracy (excluding blocks) | 52% |
| Goals | 1 |
| Conversion Rate | 4% |
| Through Balls | 6 |
| Lay-Offs Completed | 11 |
| Take-ons Overrun | 0 |
| Duels Contested | 168 |
| Fouls from Tackles Attempted | 13 |
| Take-ons Completed | 5 |
| Take-on Success | 62.5% |
| Fouls | 17 |
| Ground Duels Contested | 156 |
| Ground Duels Won | 96 |
| Clearances | 6 |
| Ball Recoveries | 144 |
Pedri best season (2024-2025)
Pedri is having one of the best seasons in his career under Hansi Flick, quarter of the season is still yet to play.
Let’s have a breakdown of Pedri’s stats till now:
| 📊 Stat | 📈 Numbers |
|---|---|
| Shot Accuracy (excluding blocks) | 69.3% |
| Goals | 4 |
| Conversion Rate | 31% |
| Through Balls | 17 |
| Lay-Offs Completed | 28 |
| Take-ons Overrun | 1 |
| Duels Contested | 175 |
| Fouls from Tackles Attempted | 5 |
| Take-ons Completed | 27 |
| Take-on Success | 69.23% |
| Fouls | 8 |
| Ground Duels Contested | 168 |
| Ground Duels Won | 98 |
| Clearances | 9 |
| Ball Recoveries | 157 |
Now What?
As per their logic stats don’t lie, but here is where the backpedalling starts. When numbers don’t favour Madrid players, suddenly “stats don’t matter”. Now we’ll hear about Kroos not being a proper attacking midfielder and what not. According to their logic, stats prove Pedri is better than Kroos.
Madrid fans switch their statements faster than Vini pulls off his 10x performances.
