Former Manchester United defender Rio Ferdinand has named FIVE Liverpool players in the FIFA EA Sports Team of the Year – and there’s no place for Lionel Messi or Bruno Fernandes!
- Rio Ferdinand has not named a single Man United player in his 2020 FIFA squad
- Barcelona giant Lionel Messi failed to make the cut for Ferdinand’s side
- The former man’s XI was made up mostly of Liverpool and Bayern players
- Sergio Ramos, Cristiano Ronaldo and Kevin De Bruyne were the exceptions
Rio Ferdinand has named five Liverpool stars in his EA Sports FIFA Team of the Year – but there were zero Manchester United players or anywhere for Lionel Messi either.
The former United and England ace went for a 4-3-3 system, which he believes is ‘firm at the back’ and would ‘bang in goals’ ahead.
Despite his intense rivalry with Liverpool in his 12-year stint at United, the majority of Ferdinand’s team is made up of players from the Premier League champions.
Trent Alexander-Arnold (L) and Sadio Mane (R) were two of five Liverpool players named in EA Fer Ferandand Sports’ FIFA Team of the Year
Lionel Messi (L) and Bruno Fernandes (R) were two things left out of his best XI
Alisson was the first of five Liverpool players selected by Ferdinand to be picked up between the bats for his ‘consistency’.
Teammates Trent Alexander-Arnold and Virgil van Dijk were with him as a defense while Real Madrid’s Sergio Ramos and Bayern Munich’s senior wing Alphonso Davies finished the back four.
Ferdinand described his defense, which included players who won the Premier League, La Liga, Bundesliga and Champions League last year, as full of ‘speed, character, personality, strength and charisma’.
Ferdinand chose Alisson of Liverpool as his goalkeeper and called him ‘Mr Consistency’.
Sergio Ramos, who led Real Madrid to LaLiga in 2020, has been selected to play alongside Virgil van Dijk
Pitch Camp: This is how Ferdinand FIFA XI’s dream would go up
At midfield, Manchester City’s Kevin De Bruyne was Ferdinand’s first choice with the former US man labeling the Belgian star as ‘the best midfielder in the Premier League’.
He was joined by Thiago of Liverpool and Joshua Kimmich of Bayern, Fernandes’ favorite of United’s driving force.
The Portuguese midfielder has been in remarkable shape ever since he joined United in a £ 68million deal last January but Ferdinand opted out.
There were some obvious choices beforehand with goalkeeper Robert Lewandowski – who won UEFA man of the year and best FIFA Men player for 2020 – who was selected to lead the line for his XI star.
Ferdinand said Kevin De Bruyne got in his XI because he was ‘the best midfielder in the Premier League’
Thiago, who starred for Bayern last year before joining Liverpool, was also named in midfield.
It would be an offense if Ferdinand had joined anyone else above considering that no player in the major European leagues has outperformed Lewndowski in 2020 (40).
On the left wing was Cristiano Ronaldo, who is still down on age by continuing to score at a level of laughter even at 35 with 19 goals from 17 games so far this season and now a whopping 759 over his career – the highest component in history.
Surprisingly there was no place for the Messi Barcelona legend despite Ferdinand having previously said that he should be considered a bigger talent than Ronaldo because of his overall game.
Messi endured a tough campaign last term as Barcelona failed to win any silverware but enjoyed it very personally, still managing to post impressive numbers in the score and support columns, though not. enough to force Ferdinand to join.
Liverpool forward Sadio Mane was selected to play in the right position to end Ferdinand ‘s XI dream, meaning that no players from the former club made the cut. despite their formidable form a few months ago which has taken them to the top of the Premier League Table.
Robert Lewandowski and Joshua Kimmich joined team-mate Alphonso Davies in the XI
He enjoyed another amazing year alongside Cristiano Ronaldo in front of goal and won left-back place
