Uefa has announced their top 10 Best Player shortlist and as expected the list is dominated by players who play in La Liga, as the seven of the ten players play for Spanish clubs, with two coming from Germany and one from Italy. Once again no player from the Premier League made the list. This top 10 list will be whittled down to three next month, with a jury to decide who will take the crown, last won by Lionel Messi.
The list is compiled by journalists from each of the 55 countries in UEFA, who rank their top five players in Europe for the last season.
Champions League winners Real Madrid dominated the list with Cristiano Ronaldo, Gareth Bale, Toni Kroos and Pepe providing the highest club representation.
From Barcelona, two thirds of the Camp Nou’s MSN triumvirate were included as Luis Suarez and Lionel Messi made the cut for the reigning La Liga champions.
Also making the cut were Atletico Madrid’s Antoine Griezmann, Juventus goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon and the Bayern Munich duo of Thomas Muller and Manuel Neuer.
Messi and Ronaldo are expected to battle for the crown, with the latter thought to have the edge after his side won Euro 2016, albeit with the Real Madrid star playing almost no part in the final because of an injury picked up early on.
THE TOP 30 PLAYERS IN EUROPE AS CHOSEN BY JOURNALISTS
Top 10 (alphabetical order)
- Gareth Bale (Real Madrid & Wales)
- Gianluigi Buffon (Juventus & Italy)
- Antoine Griezmann (Atletico Madrid & France)
- Toni Kroos (Real Madrid & Germany)
- Lionel Messi (Barcelona & Argentina)
- Thomas Muller (Bayern Munich & Germany)
- Manuel Neuer (Bayern Munich & Germany)
- Pepe (Real Madrid & Portugal)
- Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid & Portugal)
- Luis Suarez (Barcelona & Uruguay)
Best of the rest
- 11 Riyad Mahrez (Leicester & Algeria)
- 12 Jamie Vardy (Leicester & England)
- 13 Dimitri Payet (West Ham & France)
- 14 Jerome Boateng (Bayern Munich & Germany)
- 15 Arturo Vidal (Bayern Munich & Chile)
- 16 Luka Modric (Real Madrid & Croatia)
- 17 N’Golo Kantc (Leicester & France)
- 18 Zlatan Ibrahimovic (Paris Saint-Germain/Manchester United & Sweden)
- 19= Eden Hazard (Chelsea & Belgium)
- 19= Andres Iniesta (Barcelona & Spain)
- 19= Neymar (Barcelona & Brazil)
- 19= Renato Sanches (Benfica/Bayern Munich & Portugal)