1 Bayern Munich Player Whose FIFA 16 Stats Underestimate Him

FIFA 16 was released just over a week ago, and around the world, gamers and football fans alike have been enjoying the newest edition of the hugely popular football video game series.

EA Sports’ careful analysis of player attributes is often remarkably realistic, making the game quite lifelike. But in some cases, the developers have missed the mark with their player stats assignments.

Bayern Munich fans who have played FIFA 16 may be annoyed that EA missed the mark with a couple of their ratings, particularly those of Douglas Costa and Thiago Alcantara.

In the case of Costa, the 81 rating is perhaps understandable, if inaccurate. Nobody was expecting him to be such a big hit at Bayern after never truly achieving his potential at Shakhtar Donetsk, and his 90 pace, 86 dribbling and five-star skill moves are more or less spot-on. His playmaking ability is understated by his 78 pass rating, but no-one could have expected him to become the assist machine he’s become, especially after tallying just seven (via Transfermarkt.co.uk) in all competitions last season.

EA can have a free pass on Costa for now, just as long as they do him justice in later updates.

In Thiago's case, however, EA doesn't have such an excuse. Although he missed much of the previous season injured and only played 13 games, the Spaniard was brilliant when he returned to the pitch in April. He was brilliant in the Champions League against Porto, catalyzing Bayern's comeback from a 3-1 first-leg defeat.

EA (via Futhead.com) seems to understand much of Thiago's skill on the ball, with his overall dribbling rated at 89 and ball control and dribbling skills at 88 and 90, respectively.

However, Thiago's passing, at 81, greatly underrates the player's actual ability. According to Squawka, his pass accuracy last season was 88 percent, with an average pass length of 18 meters. FIFA rates him at 88 with short passing, which is fair, but Thiago's 67 percent accuracy with long balls last season deserves better than the 83 rating EA gave him for long passing. 

For comparison, Xabi Alonso completed 68 percent of his long passes, according to Squawka, and still managed a 93 rating (via Futhead.com) in long passing in FIFA 16. Even Andrea Pirlo, whose long passing is the top-ranked in FIFA at 94, completed just under 75 percent (via Squawka) of his long passes last season. That's not much better than Thiago, whose rating by EA seems rather on the low side.

Aside from long passing, Thiago is rather underrated in terms of skill moves. He may not be Lionel Messi, but should fall closer to five stars than the four at which he was rated. Consider the "elastico" move he performed this summer against Dortmund, a thing of absolute beauty and brilliance. There are highlights reels all around the Internet (this from YouTube is a good one) showing off his skills.

Another area where Thiago is underrated is his vision, listed at 84. It's a respectable statistic but understates his quality as a provider in the attacking third.

He absolutely has the creativity to play as a No. 10, even if he isn't used in an advanced midfield role, and it is rather surprising that he ranks below more defensive-minded midfielders like Bastian Schweinsteiger, Nuri Sahin, Granit Xhaka and Esteban Granero in that category. Even Tom Huddlestone and Charlie Adam are ranked at 84 in vision.

Finally, Thiago's crossing (64) and free-kick (77) stats are probably rather on the low side, but neither are his specialties, and on the pitch, he doesn't do either very often. As such, there is little to go by in terms of data analysis.

In terms of long passes, vision and skill moves, however, Thiago is quite underrated by EA. As with Costa, the developers seem to have made some big mistakes in the Spaniard's attributes. They can make up for it, though, when he inevitably makes it into the Team of the Week and has an In-Form card produced.

@Mr_Bundesliga