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Sadio Mane Named In UEFA Champions League Team Of The Year

By Daily Mail
Football News Sadio Mane Named In UEFA Champions League Team Of The Year
JAN 15, 2020 LISTEN

Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo and Sadio Mane have all made the UEFA Fans' Team of the Year – but a series of stars for Champions League holders Liverpool have missed out.

The likes of Roberto Firmino and Mohamed Salah will be shocked at being excluded from the best XI after winning the competition in June.

Their captain Jordan Henderson might also be annoyed to have missed out after Kevin de Bruyne and Frenkie de Jong were given a place in midfield.

There will also be surprise at the fact that Robert Lewandowski has been included up front in front of other players.

His Bayern Munich side were dismissed by Jurgen Klopp's team at the round of 16 stage in last season's edition of the competition.

There is a familiar feel to the attacking spots though, with Messi included for the 11th time, and Ronaldo for the 14th time.

The Barcelona captain was the top scorer in the Champions League with 12 goals and is the first player to score in 15 successive seasons of the competition.

Meanwhile, while Ronaldo's Juve crashed out to Ajax in the quarter-finals, he did win the Serie A title as well as the inaugural UEFA Nations League with Portugal.

Elsewhere in the team, Liverpool players make up three of the four members of the defence.

Andy Robertson, Virgil van Dijk and Trent Alexander-Arnold have all been voted in by the more than two million people who picked players for the side over the course of six weeks.

Robertson and Alexander-Arnold were crucial components at full-back throughout Liverpool's run to Madrid, while Van Dijk was man-of-the-match in the final against Tottenham.

The Dutch talisman also won the UEFA Men's Player of the Year award and Champions League Defender of the Season gong.

Alisson is the other Liverpool player including - the Reds have five players in the team in total.

De Bruyne is the only other representative from the Premier League - Manchester City lost to Tottenham in last year's quarter-finals, but the Belgian has been in scintillating form so far this season and he makes the team for the second time.

Two members of Ajax's side which reached last season's semi-finals have been included, though both now ply their trade elsewhere: Matthijs De Ligt at Juventus and Frenkie De Jong at Barcelona.

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