Goal Scoring in Soccer: A Polar Coordinate Analysis of Motor Skills Used by Lionel Messi

Abstract

Soccer research has traditionally focused on technical and tactical aspects of team play, but few studies have analyzed motor skills in individual actions, such as goal scoring. The objective of this study was to investigate how Lionel Messi, one of the world's top soccer players, uses his motor skills and laterality in individual attacking actions resulting in a goal. We analyzed 103 goals scored by Messi between over a decade in three competitions: La Liga (n = 74), Copa del Rey (n = 8), and the UEFA Champions League (n = 21). We used an ad-hoc observation instrument (OSMOS-soccer player) comprising 10 criteria and 50 categories; polar coordinate analysis, a powerful data reduction technique, revealed significant associations for body part and orientation, foot contact zone, turn direction, and locomotion. No significant associations were observed for pitch area or interaction with opponents. Our analysis confirms significant associations between different aspects of motor skill use by Messi immediately before scoring, namely use of lower limbs, foot contact zones, turn direction, use of wings, and orientation of body to move toward the goal. Studies of motor skills in soccer could shed light on the qualities that make certain players unique.

The Specificity of Observational Studies in Physical Activity and Sports Sciences: Moving Forward in Mixed Methods Research and Proposals for Achieving Quantitative and Qualitative Symmetry

“…Numerous examples have been described in the literature, particularly in recent years, and have been applied to a wide range of sporting contexts, including motor skill analysis (Castañer et al, 2009), physical activity (Castañer et al, 2016b), middle- and long-distance races (Aragón et al, 2015, 2017), basketball (Fernández et al, 2009), soccer (Jonsson et al, 2006; Castañer et al, 2016a, 2017a; Casal et al, 2017; Diana et al, 2017), judo (Gutiérrez-Santiago et al, 2011), hockey (Hernández-Mendo and Anguera, 2002), futsal (Lapresa et al, 2013b), and kinesics (Castañer et al, 2013). Ad-hoc instruments have been shown to be equally effective in amateur (Arana et al, 2013) and elite (Barreira et al, 2014) sport.…”

Is Reading Instruction Evidence-Based? Analyzing Teaching Practices Using T-Patterns

“…We employed systematic observation, which is widely used in a range of contexts (Castañer et al, 2013, 2016), as it fulfills the basic requirements proposed by Anguera (1979, 2003): habitual behavior, natural context, and perceptivity. These conditions are all guaranteed in the events tracked in our study.…”

Preliminary Checklist for Reporting Observational Studies in Sports Areas: Content Validity

“…The concrete field of observational methodology, as applied to sports, currently benefits from the advanced development of statistical analyses and specific software to study men and women's sports-related behaviors in order to obtain indicators to improve their performance (Anguera and Hernández-Mendo, 2015; Anguera et al, 2017, 2018). For example, (1) sequential analysis of behaviors using SDIS-GSEQ software (Bakeman and Quera, 2011) has been developed to establish model sequences by high-level sportsmen and women (Castelão et al, 2015); (2) the use of polar coordinate analysis by means of HOISAN software (Hernández-Mendo et al, 2012) enables the study of interrelations between different categories of observational tools in different sports, such as tae kwon do (López-López et al, 2015), handball (Sousa et al, 2015), or soccer (Castellano and Hernández-Mendo, 2003; Castañer et al, 2016); and (3) T-pattern analysis using Theme software (Magnusson, 1996, 2000) can be applied to discover hidden structures in the observed behavior that are not directly visible in elite climbing (Arbulu et al, 2016), futsal (hard-court soccer, Sarmento et al, 2016), synchronized swimming (Iglesias et al, 2015), or bouts epee (fencing, Tarrag et al, 2015). …”