The below post highlights the "Best Ideal XI Team for 2013" by the French Sports paper "L´Equipe". This post is the "Best XI Team for 2013" by Italian Sports paper "La Gazzetta dello Sports". If the French left out Sergio Ramos, the Italians left out FC Barcelona player Lionel Messi. And while the French at least included a Spaniard in FC Barcelona defender Jordi Alba, the Italian list has no Spaniards.
Football typically never puts everyone in accorde & the French vs Italian list highlights this fact. Where both papers do coincide is the dominance of Bayern Munich players & the presence of two of the three "FIFA Golden Ball 2013" candidates in Real Madrid forward Cristiano Ronaldo & Bayern Munich player Franck Ribery. Surprising no Spaniards with the Italians.
The full list of "The Best XI 2013"
Goalkeeper: Neuer (Bayern de Munich)
Defenders: Lahm (Bayern de Munich), Subotic (Borussia Dortmund), Thiago Silva (PSG), Alaba (Bayern de Munich)
Midfielders: Schweinsteiger (Bayern de Munich), Gündogan (Borussia Dortmund), Hazard (Chelsea FC), Ribery (Bayern de Munich).
Forwards: Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid), Lewandowski (Borussia Dortmund).
Hi guys, SFS is back after a few days off with the family. I hope you had a great Christmas & have received lots of presents.
On the bus back home got to read that the French Sports paper "L´Equipe" has published their Best XI of the Year 2013. The surprise, but deserved, is the inclusion of left back defender Jordi Alba of FC Barcelona. Alba is the only Spaniard included in the list, the others are as follows:
Manuel Neuer (Bayern Munich), Philipp Lahm (Bayern Munich), Vincent Kompany (Manchester City), Thiago Silva (PSG), Jordi Alba (FC Barcelona), Yaya Touré (Manchester City),Bastian Schweinsteiger (Bayern Múnich), Thomas Müller (Bayern Munich), Franck Ribéry (Bayern Munich), Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid) & Lionel Messi (FC Barcelona)
Cristiano Ronaldo & Lionel Messi represent Spanish Football with their respective Spanish Clubs Real Madrid & FC Barcelona. The "Best XI" is dominated by Bayern Munich players.
The above list changes somewhat if the "L´Equipe" readers & Internet voters ( around 72.000) are taken into account. The voted list is :
Neuer (Bayern Múnich); Lahm (Bayern Múnich), Sergio Ramos (Real Madrid), Thiago Silva (PSG), Jordi Alba (Barcelona); Paul Pogba (Juventus), Touré (Manchester City), Ozil (Real Madrid/Arsenal), Ribéry (Bayern Múnich); Ronaldo (Real Madrid) & Messi (Barcelona).
Here Real Madrid defender Sergio Ramos is included along with Jordi Alba.
This is the prelude to the soon to be announced "FIFA Golden Ball 2013 Award" the 13th of January. The winner will come from the final three candidates : Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi & Franck Ribery.
