Six Barça players in contention for uefa.com Team of the Year

[Flavia]

WWW.FCBARCELONA.COM

12/03/2012 18:07

Alba, Mascherano, Piqué, Xavi, Iniesta and Messi are among the 40 candidates

Barça, along with Madrid and Chelsea, is the most represented club


Six FC Barcelona players are in contention for places in the uefa.com Team of the Year. Defenders Alba, Mascherano and Piqué, midfielders Xavi and Iniesta and striker Leo Messi are the FCB players in the shortlist of 40 to be selected for the best team of 2012. One year ago, Alves, Piqué, Xavi, Iniesta and Messi were all in the uefa.com all star XI.

Most represented club

FC Barcelona, has the most candidates, six, along with European champions Chelsea and Liga champions Real Madrid. Barça are particularly prominent in the defensive categories, with three players (Alba, Mascherano and Piqué) nominated.

The 40 finalists, by positions

The following are the 40 candidates named by uefa.com, ordered by positions and alphabetically:

Goalkeepers: Buffon, Casillas, Cech and Neuer

Defenders: Barzagli, Cole, Hummels, Ivanovic, Jordi Alba, Kompany, Lahm, Mascherano, Pepe, Piqué, Sergio Ramos and Thiago Silva

Midfielders: Alonso, Blaszczykowski, Hazard, Iniesta, Juan Mata, Marchisio, Özil, Pirlo, Reus, Silva, Touré and Xavi

Forwards: Agüero, Burak Yilmaz, Cavani, Drogba, Falcao, Mario Gómez, Huntelaar, Ibrahimovic, Lewandowski, Messi, Ronaldo and Van Persie

You can vote here

 

[Barcaman]

Something is wrong with the link.
Imo. Alba, Xavi, Iniesta and Messi have good chances. Pique and Masch not as much.

 

[Flavia]

The link is that one, but it seems to not be working right now. I tried voting earlier and couldn't past the gk options.

 

[MagIX]

No Busquets ?

 

[Barcaman]

Tbh. Pique shouldn't be there either.

 

[Deco 20]

Busquets for Pique

 

[PacoBJuarez]

Busquets for Pique

Pretty much this.

 

[Alik]

I voted for

Chech
Lahm Mach Pique Alba
Xavi Pirlo Iniesta
Messi Drogba Ronaldo

Only voted for Mach and Pique as a Barca fan. Not sure if I should have included Drogba.

 

[Flavia]

I voted:
Buffon
Lahm - T Silva - Hummels - Alba
Xavi - Pirlo - Iniesta
Messi - Ibra - Aguero

 

[Der Kaiser]

My eleven:

Casillas
Ramos - Hummels - Kompany - Alba
Xavi - Pirlo - Iniesta
Messi - RVP - Ronaldo

 

[AzaR]

My team

 

[oggmar]

Neuer

Lahm Pique Hummels Alba

Iniesta Xavi Pirlo

Ibra Messi Falcao

 

[ViscaBarca914]

Im rocking
Neuer
Lahm-Pique-Hummels-Alba
Reus-Xavi-Iniesta
Messi-Falcao-CR

some bias in there but whatever

 

[PearLBLacK]

I see lot of obvious bias in here

All of you going for 4-3-3? I personally preferred 3-4-3 to accommodate all my choices.

Here's my Best XI:

Wanted to put Ozil instead of Xavi or Iniesta, but he's been shit since the end of last season. Also, as much as I love Casillas, Gigi slightly edges it for me.

And this lineup would fail miserably in real life. Two midgets in a 3-man defense is such a bad idea, and Xavi, Alonso, Pirlo in midfield would be the greatest accumulation of talent - failure in cohesion ever. And those front three would result in the best ball hogging forwards of all time.

 

[Ursegor]

I was a bit mad that they forgot to include the best holding midfielder in the world - Phil Jones. But it's ok. I went with Yaya instead for his 2 great Champions League campaigns so far with City.

Mata is self-explanatory. Star player in the Euros. His linkup play with Torres in the final against Italy was legendary.

Hazard is self-explanatory as well. Chelsea payed € 40 million for him and they are the Champions of Europe. They know a thing or two about expensive transfers. They always pay off. How can he not be picked?!

I'm surprised Arbeloa isn't available. He was the best Spanish defender in the Euros IMO and the main reason why Spain conceded only 1 goal throughout the tournament. I guess Lahm should do it, too.

I also went with 4-4-2. It's the most modern formation out there. The best teams in the world play like that (Manchester United, Manchester City, England).