2020 has not generally been a year to remember for obvious reasons, but for football it’s still been pretty eventful and good to watch.
The lack of fans at many games this calendar year has been a bit of a dampener, but the change in rules in the Champions League made it very entertaining in the second half of last season.
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We’ve also seen some superb goals and general play from a number of the world’s best players, with Bayern Munich deserved Champions League winners in the end thanks to the magic of stars like Robert Lewandowski, Joshua Kimmich and Thiago Alcantara.
Bayern players, therefore, unsurprisingly dominate the list of 100 best players of 2020 put together by Marca, though it’s a little harsh on Premier League champions Liverpool as none of their players, or indeed any from English clubs, make the top ten.
Lewandowski comes out on top, and many will no doubt feel the Poland international would have won the Ballon d’Or if it had been held this year.
Kimmich is in second place, followed by familiar names such as Kylian Mbappe, Cristiano Ronaldo, Neymar and Lionel Messi also in the top ten.
The highest-placed Premier League player is Liverpool right-back Trent Alexander-Arnold, while Manchester City’s Kevin De Bruyne is 13th.
A number of other Liverpool players, including Sadio Mane, Alcantara, Alisson, Jordan Henderson and Andrew Robertson, are also in, while some surprise names from Manchester United also get in, with Paul Pogba and Anthony Martial slightly strange choices.
It’s clear we’ll need to see more from Premier League clubs in Europe if they are to climb the rankings here, but this might also be a slightly biased list from Marca, as it’s not immediately obvious why La Liga-based players like Messi and Karim Benzema particularly deserve to be in the top ten over some of the stars who contributed to Liverpool’s dominant title win.