There can be little debate that both Lionel Messi and Kevin De Bruyne rank alongside one another right now as the best playmakers in the world, but who has had the better season?
It will come as no surprise to learn that the two players are leading the way in Europe's top five leagues with the most assists this season.
Fresh off his World Cup triumph with Argentina, Messi has been just as impressive for PSG. While his numbers did take a dip last season, he has been back to his usual self this time around.
In the league alone, Messi has 30 goal contributions with 15 goals and 15 assists so far. PSG on on track to win the Ligue 1 title, which will be Messi's 12 league title in his career.
The Argentine genius continues to dazzle us with his moments of brilliance and his underlying numbers have been particularly impressive during this campaign.
Messi has been regarded as the best playmaker in the world for quite some time, but Kevin De Bruyne is a worthy challenger to his throne.
The Manchester City midfielder has been flawless this year and could end the campaign with three trophies in the bag. His partnership with Erling Haaland is basically a cheat code at this point.
“Kevin is a special player,” Guardiola told reporters following City's 4-1 triumph over Arsenal. “Today was a game where we expected high pressing from Arsenal.
“When there's high pressing, it's long balls, second balls. We were able to win it in contact with Kevin, and then we could run with Erling. It's an incredible threat up front, the connection with them, and Kevin was brilliant.”
The Belgian playmaker loves playing against the Gunners as he has now scored and assisted in both Premier League games against Arsenal this season.
We've taken a deeper look into the stats of both Messi and De Bruyne this season to see how they stack up against one another. We'll let you be the judge of who comes out on top.
Lionel Messi
Ligue 1
Games: 27
Goals: 15
Assists: 15
Goals per game: 0.55
Assists per game: 0.55
Goal contributions per game: 1.11
Shots per game: 4.1
Dribbles per game: 3.3
Chances created per game: 2.9
Champions League
Games: 7
Goals: 4
Assists: 4
Goals per game: 0.57
Assists per game: 0.57
Goal contributions per game: 1.14
Shots per game: 3.3
Dribbles per game: 2.0
Chances created per game: 2.7
Kevin De Bruyne
Premier League
Games: 29
Goals: 7
Assists: 16
Goals per game: 0.24
Assists per game: 0.55
Goal contributions per game: 0.79
Shots per game: 2.2
Dribbles per game: 1.0
Chances created per game: 3.2
Champions League
Games: 7
Goals: 1
Assists: 4
Goals per game: 0.14
Assists per game: 0.57
Goal contributions per game: 0.71
Shots per game: 1.6
Dribbles per game: 0.9
Chances created per game: 2.6
cby10
528
Everyone being compared with Messi.
yusalosuz
371
Messi is undisputed
Yunclmpsy
201
Messi just destroys Kevin De bruyne in both league and UCL... adding Messi's international performance make Messi and easy winner of Ballon d'or.. edited - Imagine if Messi plays for such a balance team like Manchester City managed by a coach like Guardiola with a finisher like halaand upfront.
Bazbcmuz
181
Some say Messi is finished but they don't understand that Messi even at this age(Prime Messi was in a league of his own im talking about this version)is a perfect combination of De Bruyne and Vinicius with some good goal scoring ability and his abilities could be even better if PSG team was built around him.Even putting Messi and Ronaldos name in the same sentence is an insult to football only Pele and Maradona should be conpare with Messi.