Today saw the announcement of the 40-man shortlist for UEFA’s Team of the Year, and it saw the surprise omission of Arsenal’s Mesut Ozil. Taking a surprise amongst Europe’s elite is Welshman Joe Allen.
All the usual names made the cut: Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo, Neymar, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang all feature, as do twelve names from England’s Premier League.
It is not a great surprise to learn that Champions League winners Real Madrid lead the way, with eight nominations. Their La Liga rivals Barcelona and Atletico Madrid both have five players in the list.
In addition to Mesut Ozil, Liverpool’s Philippe Coutinho also misses out, as does Juventus pair Paulo Dybala and Andrea Barzagli.
The list in full reads:
Goalkeepers: Gianluigi Buffon (Juventus), Keylor Navas (Real Madrid), Jan Oblak (Atletico Madrid), Rui Patricio (Sporting Lisbon)
Defenders: Toby Alderweireld (Tottenham), Jerome Boateng (Bayern Munich), Leonardo Bonucci (Juventus), Dani Carvajal (Real Madrid), Diego Godin (Atletico Madrid), Raphael Guerreiro (Borussia Dortmund), Juanfran (Atletico Madrid), Joshua Kimmich (Bayern Munich), Laurent Koscielny (Arsenal), Pepe and Sergio Ramos (both Real Madrid), Gerard Pique (Barcelona)
Midfielders: Joe Allen (Stoke City), Yannick Carrasco (Atletico Madrid), Kevin De Bruyne (Manchester City), Andres Iniesta (Barcelona), N’Golo Kante (Chelsea), Toni Kroos (Real Madrid), Grzegorz Krychowiak (PSG), Riyad Mahrez (Leicester City), Luka Modric (Real Madrid), Dimitri Payet (West Ham United), Paul Pogba (Manchester United), Aaron Ramsey (Arsenal)
Forwards: Sergio Aguero (Manchester City), Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (Borussia Dortmund), Gareth Bale (Real Madrid), Antoine Griezmann (Atletico Madrid), Gonzalo Higuaín (Juventus), Zlatan Ibrahimovic (Manchester United), Robert Lewandowski (Bayern Munich), Lionel Messi (Barcelona), Neymar (Barcelona), Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid), Alexis Sanchez (Arsenal), Luis Suarez (Barcelona).
By Steve Osborne @BlizzardSteve75
