Díaz, Villa, Carrascal… Among the best dribblers in the world

This Wednesday, February 1, 2023, the CIES Football Observatory presented the offensive players with the best performance in one-on-one duels during the last year. In the ranks are wingers, strikers and midfielders valued for a capacity that is becoming more important every day without depending on the different schemes used by the coaches.

Ousmane Dembélé, Barcelona’s French attacker, heads the list ahead of Vinícius Júnior (Real Madrid) and Kevin De Bruyne (Manchester City). Seven Colombians appear among the 100 soccer players highlighted for their performance against opponents.

According to the CIES report, to prepare the ranking, it was taken into account “the frequency of successful dribbles and crosses, playing time, as well as the sporting level of the matches played”.

Villa, Díaz and Carrascal, in the top 30

Sebastián Villa is the Colombian who is best positioned and the only one that is part of the ten best dribblers on the planet. The Boca Juniors player, who is usually a winger on the left in a 4-3-3, ranks eighth with a rating of 95.5 out of 100same index as Kylian Mbappé (Dembélé got 100.0).

Below, in the seventeenth box, is Luis Díazbeating Lionel Messi, Mohamed Salah and Neymar, among others. Closing the top 30 is Jorge Carrascal. The Liverpool attacker has a score of 93.7; while the CSKA Moscow midfielder was rated 92.3.

The other four players representing Colombia on the list are: Jhon Mosquera from Viktoria Pilsen (position 33 with 92.2), Luis Quiñones from Tigres UANL (position 38 with 91.9), Aviles Hurtado de Pachuca (position 64 with 89.9) and Estefano Arango of Sports Tolimathe only one in the BetPlay League (position 97 with 88.3).

Yairo Moreno and Frank Fabra, among the defenders

Taking into account the same factors of successful dribbling and crosses, the Football Observatory also produced the ranking of defensive players with better dribbling performance. Joao Cancelo, a recent addition to Bayern Munich, commands the ranks; Trent Alexander-Arnold and Javi Galán complete the podium.

Among the 100 defenders there are only two Colombians: Yairo Moreno, winger of León from Mexico, ranked 28 with an index of 79.2; Y Frank Fabra, from Boca Juniors, in box number 42 con 77.2.

The five best Colombian dribblers according to CIES