1 Borussia Dortmund Player Whose FIFA 2016 Stats Underestimate Him

Like millions of young men around the world, the players of Borussia Dortmund eagerly waited for the newest installment in the hugely popular video game series to finally drop. Fifa 16 was released two weeks ago in Germany and Dortmund's players celebrated the publishing with a tournament you can watch on the club's YouTube channel. 

While seeing themselves in the game must be a dream come true, especially for younger players who've grown up playing these games, a look at their respective ratings can be a bit of a bummer. While the developers' ratings often seem spot on, some players will surely have to disagree with several of their in-game stats. 

Take German left-back Marcel Schmelzer, for example.

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His overall rating of 77 doesn't remotely do him justice. According to squawka.com, he averages five defensive actions (blocks and interceptions) per game in the Bundesliga this season. That's one less than Mats Hummels. Hummels' interception rating in Fifa 16 is 91, while Schmelzer's is 73. That's just one example that shows Schmelzer's overall rating isn't close to the real-life value the left-back has in Dortmund head coach Thomas Tuchel's system.

Another example, and a much more egregious one, is young Julian Weigl. The Germany under-21 international has, ever so surprisingly, taken up a position in Dortmund's starting lineup after a move away from Munich's other football club, TSV 1860. 

Weigl has been, in short, superb for such a young player making that kind of a step up in competition and playing in this important a role, as he's often the lone holding midfielder providing balance and structure in Dortmund's hybrid 4-2-3-1/4-1-4-1 alignments. 

According to squawka.com, Weigl's average pass accuracy in the Bundesliga is at 91 percent. This makes him Dortmund's best passer. He and Ilkay Gundogan, Dortmund's next best passer at 89 percent, share the same average pass length at 18 meters. Gundogan's Fifa 16 short passer rating? 88. Weigl's is 78, and that rating is already an updated one, as he was rated even lower on the game's release date. To put this rating in perspective; it makes him a worse passer than Peter Crouch. Yes, that would be the 6'7" Stoke City striker.

Weigl's importance to Tuchel's Dortmund was described by tactics blogger Constantin Eckner in a piece for yellowwallpod.com.

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It appears even more impressive that Dortmund’s formula for success relies heavily on the abilities of a 20-year-old newcomer. Weigl is usually positioned in the left half-space behind the first opposing pressing line. Only sometimes he drops between the centre-backs to build the attack up from deep. His main responsibility is to ensure the ball moves up-field, while taking the pressure off Gundogan — his partner in crime in central midfield.

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But not only does Weigl's playmaking ability seem misjudged by his Fifa 16 ratings, his defensive contribution isn't appropriately valued either. 

According to Squawka, he averages four defensive actions per 90 minutes in the Bundesliga, which makes him Dortmund's most active midfielder in defence. A total of 2.6 of those defensive actions are interceptions, which gives him more than Hummels, who has 2.4. As mentioned above, Hummels' interception rating is a lofty 91, compared to Weigl's 69.

Lastly, his 52 positioning and 71 vision rating seem quite a way off as well. While these particular ratings are tough to criticise using actual stats, the eye test helps. Eckner described the feel Weigl has for the game.

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Weigl’s intelligent movement to get into perfect positions, constantly moving laterally and vertically in search of pockets of space, while also responding to Gündoğan’s and Kagawa’s runs, ensures Dortmund’s centre-backs have enough options to utilise. Plus, Weigl is able to open space for the players around him.

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Respected Spanish journalist Marti Perarnau had lofty praise for Weigl, likening his playing style to Barcelona's Sergio Busquets, arguably the world's best defensive midfielder, in a blog entry (in German) for eurosport.de.

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While Weigl has a long journey ahead of him if he's ever to reach the heights of Busquets, he certainly has Fifa 16's winter update to look forward to. It's not exactly rocket science to predict numerous upgrades. Maybe the game could include his real face in the game, too. Weigl, with his impressive play for Borussia Dortmund this season, has earned it.