LONDON: Lionel Messi, who lost his World Player of the Year crown to Cristiano Ronaldo this week, has failed to make the Team of the Year picked by users of European soccer governing body UEFA’s website.
Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Cristiano Ronaldo were picked as forwards in the team which was dominated by players from the Bundesliga and Spain’s La Liga.
Arsenal’s Mesut Ozil was the only current Premier League player to make the line-up and there were none at all from Italy’s Serie A.
UEFA said that 6.3 million people cast votes in the poll on its website.
Real Madrid and Portugal forward Ronaldo was included for a record seventh successive year and Paris St Germain’s Brazilian Thiago Silva was the only non-European.
Team: Manuel Neuer (Bayern Munich and Germany); Sergio Ramos (Real Madrid and Spain), Thiago Silva (Paris St Germain and Brazil), Philipp Lahm (Bayern Munich and Germany), David Alaba (Bayern Munich and Austria); Marco Reus (Borussia Dortmund and Germany) Mesut Ozil (Real Madrid/Arsenal and Germany), Gareth Bale (Tottenham Hotspur/Real Madrid and Wales), Franck Ribery (Bayern Munich and France); Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid and Portugal), Zlatan Ibrahimovic (Paris St Germain and Sweden). (Reuters)