Al Duhail’s Youssef Msakni emerged on top of overall player ratings, that included local and foreign professionals, after the first phase of 2017-18 QNB Stars League, according to football analysis and statistics provider STATS company.
The list of 30 comprises 11 former and present Qatar internationals as well as 19 foreign professionals, including six Asian players. Teams were required to field four foreigners, including at least one Asian player.
Besides, Tunisian national team captain Msakni, the prominent names in the list were his counterpart Hassan al-Haydous, 2006 best Asian player Khalfan Ibrahim, star Moroccan strikers Youssef El Arabi and Abderrazaq Hamdallah as well as Spanish great Xavi Hernandez.
Msakni was adjudged the player of the month in September and also in November-December combined, while El Arabi was the best player in October.
It also features three players bound for next year’s FIFA World cup in Russia — South Korean Nam Tae-Hee of Al Duhail and Iranian Morteza Pouraliganji of Al Sadd, apart from Msakni.
The ratings were done based on data, such as the number of matches and minutes played by players, goals scored, passes made and assists given. Strikers and midfielders mostly figured in the list, which failed to see a goalkeeper.
A total of 17 players, inclusive of Msakni and El Arabi, played all 11 matches. Stoppage time was added to the time spent on the pitch and each played 1,060 minutes. However, Msakni topped them all based on his performance and was rated 89.7 (nine goals and seven assists) against his teammate’s 87.7 (16 goals and one assist).
Al Sailiya’s Wagner Ribeiro came second on 88.1 with eight goals and two assists in 964 minutes. Nam (87.5) occupied the fourth position with 1,025 minutes of play, seven goals and four assists, followed by Al Rayyan’s Rodrigo Tabata (86.3), who also scored seven times and gave two assists off 1,005 minutes.
Al Sadd’s Xavi, with 10 games, 957 minutes, five goals and four assists, was sixth. Next was Al Khor’s Madson (11 matches, 1,051 minutes, six goals) ahead of Al Sadd’s Algerian striker Baghdad Bounedjah with six goals and two assists. He played only six games and 475 minutes as he was struggling with a nagging injury.
Al Rayyan’s Sebastian Soria came ninth (11 games, 925 minutes, seven goals and three assists). Al Kharaitiyat’s Rachid Tiberkanine (11 matches, 1,033 minutes, seven goals and two assists) completed the top 10.
Al Sadd had the most number of players (six) in the list, followed by Al Duhail, Al Rayyan (both five), Al Sailiya, Al Gharafa (both three), Umm Salal, Al Kharaitiyat (both two) and one each from Al Ahli, Qatar SC, Al Arabi and Al Khor. Of the 12 QNB Stars League sides, only Al Markhiya had no representation.