Barcelona and Real Madrid men battle for top spot…
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UEFA has announced the 12 forwards on the shortlist to make its Team of the Year for 2014.
We’ve ranked them, in terms of how likely they are to make the side based on their performances this calendar year.
12) Soriano – Red Bull Salzburg
46 goals last season, but Soriano has no chance of mkaing the Team of the Year, because he scored his goals in the Austrian leagues.
11) Robert Lewandowski – Bayern Munich
Didn’t play at the World Cup because Poland didn’t qualify. He was the Bundesliga top scorer in 2013/14, but is scoring at a modest rate this term with his new club – bagging at a rate of less than one a game so far.
10) Karim Benzema – Real Madrid
The classy Frenchman is key to Real Madrid’s style, but was arguably outshone by his teammates Cristiano Ronaldo and Gareth Bale in 2013/14.
9) Neymar – Barcelona
We’ve ranked Neymar relatively low because he was probably a bit quiet last season, during his first full campaign in Europe. He was good at the World Cup though, and is flying this season – outscoring Lionel Messi in the league so far.
8) Alexis Sanchez – Arsenal
Sanchez is loving life in England, where he’s currently dragging a pretty average Arsenal side up the table. Barcelona were happy to replace him with Luis Suarez, who’s not made this shortlist because of the fact he bit Giorgio Chiellini at the World Cup.
7) Carlos Tevez – Juventus
Tevez fired Juventus to Serie A glory, and has started this term in equally brilliant form – notching 11 goals so far.
6) Gareth Bale – Real Madrid
The Welshman scored a Copa del Rey final winner, and bagged in the Champions League final too, following his world record transfer last summer.
5) Zlatan Ibrahimovic – PSG
The giant Swede won a second consecutive Ligue 1 title with PSG, picking up a second consecutive Golden Boot award too.
4) Thomas Muller – Bayern Munich
Top scorer for the Germans at the World Cup, Muller also performed exceptionally for Bayern Munich, who romped to the Bundesliga title last term, and will likely do so again in 2014/15.
3) Diego Costa – Chelsea
Costa scored 36 goals in all competitions for La Liga winning Atletico last term, and has already notched ten for Chelsea since his £32m summer move.
2) Lionel Messi – Barcelona
Some say Messi’s been below his best, but the stats argue otherwise. 41 goals in 45 games last season, and 14 in 16 so far this term – and a World Cup Golden Ball to boot. Not the worst 2014, but not nearly as good as that of his nemesis Cristiano Ronaldo…
1) Cristiano Ronaldo – Real Madrid
Ronaldo’s already scored 25 goals this season, which means he’s almost certain to beat the 51 he registered in 2013/14. Nobody in world football is bagging goals in the same relentless manner right now, meaning Ronaldo is a certainty to make this side, and probably win the Ballon d’Or as well.