A bad week for Lionel Messi, after losing out to Cristiano Ronaldo for the FIFA Ballon d’Or, got worse yesterday when the Barcelona forward failed to make it into the UEFA.com team of the year.
The UEFA team was chosen by users of the European body’s website, and not a single Barca player was included despite the team winning the Spanish Primera Division title.
Messi finished 13th in terms of votes, cast by more than half a million visitors to the website or via social media sites.
Only one current Premier League player, Arsenal’s Mesut Ozil, has made it into the team, although Wales midfielder Gareth Bale, who moved from Tottenham Hotspur to Real Madrid in the summer, is also included.
No English players made it into the team, but there are four from Germany – Manuel Neuer, Philipp Lahm, Marco Reus and Ozil.
Portugal captain Ronaldo, who won the Ballon d’Or on Monday, is named in the team for the eighth time and an unprecedented seventh time in a row.
The uefa.com team of 2013
Manuel Neuer (Bayern Munich); Sergio Ramos (Real Madrid), Thiago Silva (Paris St Germain), Philipp Lahm (Bayern Munich), David Alaba (Bayern Munich); Franck Ribery (Bayern Munich), Marco Reus (Borussia Dortmund) Mesut Ozil (Arsenal), Gareth Bale (Real Madrid); Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid), Zlatan Ibrahimovic (Paris St Germain).