Yes, Figo was better, even if he did not necessarily have the same flair or "talent". He was a smarter and more effective player.
By none metric Figo was better, I even say Figo is overrated. Match ratings, G+A efectiveness, z_score metrics in World Cup, plus minus impact (Football Ratings plus minus... Goalimpact rates 2017-2019 Neymar his prime alongside prime 2012 Cristiano Ronaldo... macrofootball have Neymar TOP3 in offensive impact all the seasons between 2014-15 and 2019-20, TOP4 in 2020-21 and the highest offensive rated player in terms of impact in 2014-15, 2015-16 and 2017-18, three seasons).... Figo isn't in the same ballpark of Neymar. Figo was a world class player from 1997 till 2001... Neymar had a all-time great ability, T10 OAT potential and is "underachiever" relative to his potencial due to bad choices in his club carrers, both Barcelona and PSG. He was actually on another level of ability, understanding and efectiveness compared to Figo.
Where can you see the plus minus of Figo then? Sofascore shows Figo his 04/05 rating. Well after his peak. It belongs among the best overall.
Figo was the best player in the world and won a POTY award. Can't say the same about Neymar. Figo also outclasses Neymar in internationals. He's simply a more effective player - a phenomenal dribbler - reliable who was an assist machine in his day.
Let's be honest here. Figo will not win it clashing with Suarez, Neymar, Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo. In fact you can argue he was on Rivaldo's level as kind of a second tier player of his generation, but Rivaldo had better international (but Figo slight better club carrer if you want), but was outplayed twice by Zidane (at Real) and R9 (at Barcelona and then at Real again) when both played together. You also can't tell Figo's international carrer was better than Neymar anyway, Neymar was underrated in the World Cup (2014 totally, 2018 he was forcing Courtois to make the save of the tournament in the last minute) and Figo Euro's 2000 was good, but Neymar's one in 2021 CA was actually better and he was the only player to play well in 2015 and 2011.. also winning the first Gold medal in his hometown in 2016 should be taken into account... as well as playing probably better than Messi in both South American qualifiers (2018 and 2022), No, Figo's carrer with Portugal isn't not near as good as Neymar's one with Brazil. Neymar and Figo both were quantity dribblers, Figo more about close control and original wing dribbles, but actually Neymar was a much more fluid, complete and progressive ball carrier... and like you said an assist-machine as well, which Neymar was, with a extraordinaire high number of chances created (especially via penetrative passes instead of crosses). second assists and assists, no doubt a player with a great vision and a assist machine. On top of that much more of a goalscorer. Higher G+A raw numbers and % of involvement, as good if not better ball progressor, better average match ratings, better youth and pre-peak time and so on. They shouldn't be in the same phrase to be honest.
The two injuries who definitely slowed him down happened both in the French domestic competitions (not in the UCL, La Liga or something), so I blame most of it in the carrer choices like I said before.
He was good, world class good for like a five years, but not on Neymar's level. Even his ball carrying wasn't on Neymar's level and that's arguably his best trait. I give him crosses tho. But incisive passing, build up plays, ball carrying, goals, positional fluidity, off-the-ball movement all goes to Neymar imo which is a lot. Figo should be placed alongside Hazard, Ribery, perhaps Robben in history. But the elite and complete offensive players like Henry's, Neymar, Luis Suarez (underrated) all are out of his range imo. Just another level of G/A efectiveness who can't be ignored.
I think we can probably agree to disagree mate, although I have to be honest I didn't watch a lot of the Neymar video you initially posted yet! Maybe I'd say that I'm at least not certain about rating Figo a lot higher than you do (and/or Neymar lower), but mostly because once the 'obvious' choices have been taken away there probably should be considered to be a very big stack of world class players through history that would come in some order or another in a 'best of all-time' listing, without very significant separation between them (but also because of 'margin for error' considering I didn't have a Barca or Real Madrid or Sporting Lisbon season ticket and so consistency wise I'd be at least slightly uncertain in terms of the full match performances). I'd tend to see him at his peak at a not much less than peak Zidane level indeed though probably, and also to see him as a midfielder moreso than forward (albeit at times he could be called a forward I suppose, yet very much a winger rather than playing in a predominantly scoring role). It'd be interesting to compare his goal contribution stats to those of a Garrincha or a Stanley Matthews (even though Figo did play more as outright midfielder/attacking midfielder at times too, in his winger role those are the kinds of players he would share a similarity with in terms of being much more of an assister). Maybe Figo is one of those players where it's possible to say his athletic/technical peak (as of 96/97 perhaps for example - at that time he was certainly getting fouled a lot though, and for sure he did make some openings and chances including with nice through ball passes that weren't converted) didn't coincide probably with his efficiency/goalscoring peak (as of 99/00 say when both in crossing....although he was clearly good with crosses long before already, especially cut-backs....and scoring, with shots into the corner of the goal etc, he had become effective on a pretty frequent basis, especially for a winger of that era).
I understand, 1 hour of Neymar should be a torture considering his bad reputation on and off the pitch - such as his stupid personality. But you can't deny greatness when you experience it.
I don't want to give the impression I think Figo couldn't dribble anymore at Real Madrid though by the way of course; and I guess in 2000/01 he at least wouldn't be too far away from an 'ideal'/peak version still: I think comparing a forward like Suarez to a midfielder like Figo on goal/assist stats isn't the best way (Suarez having a stats sheet more stacked against lower down clubs in 2013/14, possibly his most impressive season individually, and then being one of 3 forwards playing in mostly very uneven/uncompetitive games in La Liga in the MSN team). Otherwise we can say Andy Cole is much better than David Beckham for example....
The opening part isn't very good to be honest so maybe that put me off (compared to Figo or many excellent players) but I assume it gets better! 1 hour is quite a lot to watch though, for a not especially favourite player (I didn't even watch that Michael Laudrup 'passing-only' video in full yet, even if I think most of the passes will be shown elsewhere including on other videos of the uploader in any case). I do acknowledge/appreciate what Neymar could do at his best though (that spell he had in 2015/16 when Messi was out was pretty outstanding wasn't it for example), even if I don't seem to think as highly of him as a dribbler as you do seemingly (his stats do indicate he quite often lost the ball when dribbling too I think).
A lot of people (me included probably) might say Iniesta>Suarez for example too, but a stats-driven comparison wouldn't come to that conclusion. Iniesta did play games in more of a wing-based role too of course (less than Figo I acknowledge, but it could be argued Figo had most of what Iniesta had as a player and then some more on top with the more incisive and at times explosive dribbling, the amount of assists via crosses, some solo goals etc).
I personally think it is the deadly combination of his dribbling and pinpoint crossing that sets apart Luis Figo from the usual great wingers. I wonder if there ever was a player who was clearly a level above than Figo at dribbling, as well as being a cut-above in terms of the execution of the cross after. I wish I had some concrete numbers regarding his dribble count and assists throughout the course of his career, not just what is currently available in a select few of his tournament performances. In a team that requires an orthodox winger, Figo could be valued higher than Neymar in my opinion. Neymar is for me the superior dribbler in a vacuum setting, but the fact that Figo is such a threatening crosser of the ball makes his mind-games versus the fullbacks during his take-ons way easier, and probably had an indirect influence on the potency of his dribbles. Figo was able to play mind-games with the timing of his crosses, and the full-backs had to cover a much wider angle. As a full-back I might have hated playing versus Figo more than Neymar.
I think for actual assists we have a pretty much complete set of numbers available, possibly with French Wikipedia being the easiest reference to use (assuming the correct numbers - they could be a little under-stated due to the definition of assists perhaps as for Barcelona it says 83 overall and that video I posted before had 87): Luís Figo — Wikipédia (wikipedia.org) There is a video available for Portugal NT assists that had 30-40 assists on it IIRC. But yeah, for 'key passes', big chances created and suchlike we're lacking his data, and for dribbles data the Intl tournaments stats won't give a true idea because he wasn't so agile or mobile in the 00s in general (albeit Euro 2000 is in his prime of course), he carried an injury issue in Euro 96, Portugal didn't qualify for 1994, losing out to Italy and narrowly to Switzerland, and neither for 1998 due to the outcome of this game after the controversial sending off of Rui Costa:
Neymar Jr in la liga 2015/16 24 goals+16 assists 112 team goals 36% direct involvement Neymar - Stats 15/16 (Detailed view) | Transfermarkt 2015–16 La Liga - Wikipedia Luis Figo in La liga 2000/01 9 goals+18 assists 81 team goals 33% direct involvement Luís Figo - Stats 00/01 | Transfermarkt 2000–01 La Liga - Wikipedia Neymar Jr in La Liga 14/15 22 goals+9 assists 110 team goals 28% direct goal contribution Neymar - Stats 14/15 | Transfermarkt 2014–15 La Liga - Wikipedia Neymar Jr in la liga 2016/17 13 goals+14 assists 116 goals 23% direct goal contribution Neymar - Stats 16/17 (Detailed view) | Transfermarkt 2016–17 La Liga - Wikipedia Working here under the well grounded assumption that all things are relatively equal in terms of non goalscoring contributions(dribbles,passing and chance creation) Luis Figo in the 2000/01 CL https://www.skysports.com/football/news/2223031/beckham-to-lift-golden-ball-award This is dribbles(not including ‘Runs’) Most definitely attempted though. Even with a 60% dribbling accuracy rate which he was known for (even past his prime refer to sofascore ) this will leave him with around 7 dribbles per 90 in the 2000/01 CL Luis Figo also had 14 goals/assists in the 2000/01 CL(with goals in the QF and SF) Neymar has never had more than 11(and only once in 2014/15 with Messi and Suarez feeding him) Figo was the ‘assist master’ in his era like Ozil,Kevin De Bruyne and Lionel Messi were in theirs These are All his Barcelona assists All of his Portugal assists All of his Real Madrid assists
It seems like it's calendar year 2001 being referred to by re: OPTA stats there mate actually, and I found a similar report on the Beckham comments (interestingly with Capello saying Beckham or Raul for him, considering there was later some friction seemingly between Capello and Beckham at Real Madrid) from 14th November 2001 Figo says Beckham not good enough for Euro award – The Irish Times So it's the 7 (full/nearly full) CL appearances in 2001 here I think... Luís Figo - Detailed stats | Transfermarkt Plus the 5 (full/nearly full) CL appearances before 14th November here I assume (it does say 'so far' on the page you posted too) Luís Figo - Detailed stats | Transfermarkt That'd be 12.25 dribbles per game I think (yeah, attempted I assume - 60% of that would be 7.35 per game so similar to where you had it anyway even if you were using 2000/01 games I think overall?)! Unless I misunderstood anything or the report is misleading re: the OPTA data (it seems clearly to say 147 CL dribbles for Figo though).
Yeah still likely(definitely?)attempted IMO We have to use common sense and measure him by the standards of players who are universally considered all time great dribblers those in his era Before his era and after Messi for example attempted 141 dribbles in the 2014/15 CL and he was then(in 14/15)a winger of sorts https://www.whoscored.com/Players/11119/History/Lionel-Messi I wouldn’t be surprised if Figo was in this range IF I am wrong and they are in fact successful dribbles then we would definitely have to seriously entertain Luis Figo being the most devastating dribbler in the entire history of football Maybe Sofascore will confirm or deny this soon enough. They have CL data from 2003 2000/01 was not 100 years before in either case there is nothing conclusive to suggest Figo was an inferior dribbler to Neymar The opposite is more likely true What is probably true is that Figo was less goal orientated and less clinical in front of goal that’s something I could definitely agree with But I still don’t think to a degree where one could say Neymar is a totally different calibre or in a totally different tier Neymar is not Pele in front of goal,he’s Not Zico,Romario etc
Yeah, perhaps Sofascore data will continue further back yet (obviously OPTA existed, and so does the game footage). Maybe there is some question about whether 'dribbles' remained with a constant OPTA definition (leaving aside the dribbles&runs numbers which yeah we all assume are different, but on the face of it that page you found does refer to dribbles and not runs).
This is maybe not a bad one to show my idea about 'Iniesta + more', and in general to highlight that Figo was a general playmaker as well as a final ball provider: See 3:07 in particular, also from 5:45, but in general the first touch and the dribbling too (and late in the 2nd half there are some moments where he kicks off transitions and sets up attacks albeit one is offside) Hagi did put Figo in his ideal XI (twice) as shown on this thread (scroll up the page for the earlier posts) and said this about him: https://www.bigsoccer.com/threads/interesting-best-xi.325564/page-67#post-42378759 "Luis is another former team-mate of mine from Barcelona. We played together in his first year in Spain: he was a great character and a fantastic player who could do anything he wanted with the ball. He gave the team great assists, great crosses, incredible goals, and he had everything in a player that you would always want to watch." This also has some moments of setting up counter attacks etc, plus chances created but not converted from 4:11 and 6:25 for example Maybe there could be other great wingers with greater goals/assists contributions stats (I'd wonder about the likes of Tom Finney or Zoltan Czibor....but not forgetting that they played in higher scoring times), but like I say even though he wasn't 90%+ a right winger in his career like they were I'd think he'd likely be up there for such stats with Garrincha, Matthews (all-time greats in most views), while also being more of a playmaker in the midfield to be fair. I do think it's true that although he could score some high quality goals he wasn't ever the most efficient and decisive as a taker of chances (maybe even preferring to have time to set himself for a shot rather than getting on the end of things I'd say too).
In the period beginning in 1995 and ending in 2005 I would bet that Luis figo was the player with the most dribbles completed by any player in Europe Any objective analyst would agree that the one dimensional athletic specimen with great Futsal skills and a slightly above average repertoire of goalscoring ‘skills’ that is Ronaldo Nazario was really nowhere near Luis Figo in his ability to dribble past players in tight spaces. the real data is not really in favour of Ronaldinho being a devastating dribbler over any extended period either(5+ years) If Luis Figo was as fast with/without the ball as Ronaldo Nazario he would be a top 10 all timer IMO Top 5 would be totally dependent on whether he’d able to channel that devastating combination of speed, GOAT tier close control and Elite crossing to impact the biggest games in football over an extended period of time.
Figo may have been a dribbler comparable to Neymar (although I personally would guess otherwise), but I truly believe past Sky Sports reports on dribbles cannot be used to deduce a dribble count that stays consistent with the OPTA criteria. They are their own separate entity, if I had to make an assumption, a much wider and looser definition than what constitutes an OPTA dribble. They were perhaps more closer in nature to Wyscout defined dribble, that often results in multiple players having ridiculously high numbers if mistaken for an OPTA criteria dribble tally. Opta Jury: Shaun Wright-Phillips | Football News | Sky Sports If we go by the above report, Shaun Wright-Phillips attempted 341 "dribble and runs" in a single EPL season (2004/2005), of which he completed 59%, leaving us with a number (201) that comfortably beats any completed dribble record count taken in recent years, including those recorded by Adama Traore (183) and Eden Hazard (180). SHOULD GINOLA BE A VILLAIN? | Football News | Sky Sports David Ginola is supposed to have completed 291 "dribbles and runs" (another article on Harry Kewell allows us to conclude that the 291 is indeed the tally of the successful attempts only) in a single season. I can link many more articles from early Sky Sports reports of players completing "dribbles and runs" numbers that would make prime Lionel Messi proud, but I will stop for the sake of my own sanity. I've seen insane "dribbles and runs" numbers from Rui Costa as well, so the wider tallying isn't limited to the English Premier League.