Messi, Ronaldo, Liverpool stars dominate UEFA Team of The Year list
The football administration has chosen 50 of Europe’s elite players and will give the fans the chance to vote for the best starting line-up of 2019.
Champions League winners Liverpool have 10 nominees after a series of impressive performances under Jurgen Klopp, who is enjoying an undefeated run in the Premier League this season.
Goalkeeper Alisson, full-backs Trent Alexander-Arnold and Andy Robertson, centre-back Virgil van Dijk, midfielders Fabinho, Jordan Henderson and Georginio Wijnaldum as well as forwards Roberto Firmino, Sadio Mane and Mohamed Salah have all made the shortlist.
⚡️ “https://t.co/mxYj3xB5m2 fans' #TeamOfTheYear 2019: nominees announced!”https://t.co/uNz55Zjdtz
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Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi will continue their long rivalry for top awards following another stunning campaign.
Juventus star Ronaldo scored 28 goals in 43 matches on his debut season in Turin, while Messi was prolific for Barcelona with a staggering 51 goals in 50 games.
The two superstars, as well as Real Madrid captain Sergio Ramos, have made the Team of the Year more times than any of their fellow candidates.
Exactly half of the nominees have played in the Premier League this year and four of them are English.
Robertson became the first ever Scottish nominee to make the list in the award’s 19-year history.
Paris Saint-Germain superstar Kylian Mbappe is the youngest nominee at 20 years old following a stunning campaign with 39 goals in 43 appearances.
Manchester City star Ederson is also nominated but will have to fend off Atletico Madrid’s Jan Oblak, Ajax shot-stopper Andre Onana and Barcelona star Marc-Andre ter Stegen for a place in the line-up.
Chelsea captain Cesar Azpilicueta, City ace Aymeric Laporte and Tottenham star Jan Vertonghen are among the defenders fans can pick for their best XI.
They are joined by Barcelona’s Jordi Alba and Gerard Pique, Ajax defenders Daley Blind and Nicolas Tagliafico, Juventus signing Matthijs de Ligt, Atletico Madrid star Jose Gimenez, Bayern Munich ace Joshua Kimmich and Napoli’s Kalidou Koulibaly.
City’s Bernardo Silva, Kevin De Bruyne and David Silva as well as Chelsea stars Jorginho and N’Golo Kante have made the midfielders’ category.
The same goes for Bayern ace Thiago Alcantara, Sporting Lisbon wonderkid Bruno Fernandes, Barcelona signing Frenkie De Jong, PSG star Angel Di Maria, Napoli’s Fabian Ruiz and Ajax revelations Donny van de Beek as well as Hakim Ziyech.
City top scorer Sergio Aguero and Raheem Sterling are joined by Arsenal talisman Pierre-Emerick Auybameyang and Tottenham strikers Harry Kane as well as Son Heung-min in the best forwards’ category.
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Among them nominees are also Eden Hazard and Dusan Tadic of Real and Ajax respectively as well as Bayern stars Serge Gnabry and Robert Lewandowski.