FIFA’s ideal eleven in The Best awards has created a lot of controversy. One of the finalists for the best player (Salah) and the named best goalkeeper (Mendy) were not part of the best line-up of the year. Alaba is the only representative of LaLiga in an eleven in which Haaland appears for the first time and in which Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo are back for yet another year. The full eleven is made up of Donnarumma; Alaba, Bonucci, Ruben Dias; Jorginho, Kante, De Bruyne; Cristiano Ronaldo, Messi, Lewandowski and Haaland.
Goalkeeper
To everyone’s surprise, Mendy was chosen as the best goalkeeper of 2021 ahead of the Italian Donnarumma, who was the MVP of the European Championship and won the Yashin award for the best goalkeeper of the year given by France Football magazine. Despite this, the Italian He did get more votes than the Sengalese to be the goalkeeper of the ideal eleven 2021. The Italian succeeds Alisson, who edged out Neuer in the 2020 vote despite the German also being awarded best goalkeeper.
defenses
FIFA chose to form a line of three in defense to be able to put more offensive players in its ideal eleven. Ruben Dias, chosen as the best player in the Premier last season, Bonucci, head of the European Championship champion Italian defense and Alaba, who is the only LaLiga player to be part of this line-up, were the most voted.
Midfielders
There were no surprises in the midfield line. The three chosen were Kanté, Jorginho and De Bruyne. The Frenchman was MVP of the two Champions League semi-final matches against Real Madrid and of the Champions League final against City. His partner at Chelsea Jorginho finished third in the Ballon d’Or voting after having been proclaimed champion of Europe at club and national team level. For his part, De Bruyne is a key piece for Guardiola’s City, which reached the Champions League final and dominates this year with more than ten points ahead of the second Premier League.
strikers
Cristiano Ronaldo also slipped into the eleven almost by surprise. The Portuguese was the top scorer in the European Championship and managed to become the top scorer in the history of the national teams this year, for which FIFA also recognized him by giving him an award for his career. Lewandowski and Messi, first and second classified in the votes for The Best, accompanied Cristiano up front. Not so Salah, third in The Best, who left his place to a Haaland that did not enter the pools either and that appears for the first time in the ideal eleven of the year. There was no news about Benzema, fourth in the Ballon d’Or.