European Soccer Best Eleven for the 2010-11 Season
By Ty Duffy
GK: Christian Abbiati (A.C. Milan) Abbiati pleased the fatherland, allowing just 19 goals despite facing 121 shots on target. He made an unimposing defense look formidable. Him being in net and not the erratic Dida is a large reason Milan won their first Scudetto in seven years.
LB: Leighton Baines (Everton) Baines gives everything you want from a left back. He played every match. He’s a tireless defender. He’s a little fella, so thou must term him scrappy. He had his finest season this year, with five goals and 11 assists.
CB: Nemanja Vidic (Manchester United) Intelligent and athletic with a palpable main streak, Vidic is the world’s best defender. He’s a consummate leader. His stability amongst many distractions earned him English Player of the Year honors buttressed Man U’s title-winning season.
CB: Gerard Pique (Barcelona) Pique is a staunch defender and a superb passer. His distribution from the back is crucial to Barcelona’s deft linkup play.
RB: Dani Alves (Barcelona) Alves not immune to a little gamesmanship, but he’s lethal marauding forward from the back. Only Messi and Ozil produced more than his 14 assists in the Primera Liga.
M: Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid) Ronaldo scored 56 goals in 61 appearances, including a record 40 in the Primera Liga. He’s smoothed out every inefficiency in his maturity. Personal opinions vary, but his talent is undeniable. It almost excuses these shorts…almost.
M: Luka Modric (Tottenham) Bale received the plaudits, but it was Modric who gave the performance. He was the puppet-master, keeping Spurs’ attack potent, despite regrettable efforts from Redknapp’s expensively assembled striking corps.
M: Mesut Ozil (Real Madrid) Ozil followed his breakout World Cup for Germany with a great first season in Spain. He created chance after chance, leading non-Barca players with 17 assists in 30 starts. Keeps some guy named “Kaka” out of the regular first-team.
M: Alexis Sanchez (Udinese) He’s a panic-inducing dynamo, an absolute torrent of speed and skill, even if there isn’t always an end product. He put Udinese in the Champions League. He could be the most sought-after commodity in Europe. His Italian club just turned down a $49 million offer for him.
F: Lionel Messi (Barcelona) He’s the game’s best player. He could leave as the best player of all time. His stats are ridiculous – 49 goals and 21 assists in 46 starts – and they don’t even encapsulate his value. Describing his footwork makes even the most chaste man feel like Rex Ryan.
F: Carlos Tevez (Manchester City) A poetic soul and a workhorse between the lines, he was joint Premier League top scorer. If Tevez leaves Man City this summer, he leaves them with an FA Cup trophy and a guaranteed place at the Champions League trough.
Manager of the Year: (Sir Alex Ferguson, Man U) Ferguson’s twelfth league title was arguably his greatest managerial performance. He won despite defensive injuries, a pedestrian midfield and an initially indifferent Wayne Rooney. What may be his least talented squad of the Premier League era remains in line for the uber-double.
Signing of the Season: (Peter Odemwingie – West Brom) Apologies to Chicharito, who may be worth ten times what United paid for him, but the Baggies signed Odemwingie for $3.2 million. He scored 15 goals in 32 appearances, pushing them from their perennial place in the relegation muck to a comfortable mid-table spot.
Best American: (Clint Dempsey – Fulham) Proving himself under a fourth manager at Fulham, Dempsey led the club with 12 goals and became its all-time leading scorer in the Premier League era with 33. He probably moves on to a bigger club this summer.
Worst Fashion Statement: (D.J. Campbell, Blackpool) Too soon.
[Photo via Getty]