Team of the Year without Barcelona and Real Madrid

Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo: Who is the next best?

The Team of the Year has been announced and unsurprisingly it includes zero players from the Premier League.

Despite being the richest league in world football, and with the richest club in the world in the form of Manchester United, there is a large gulf in class between it and the king of football leagues – La Liga.

The Team of the Year lines up as such: Neuer, Marcelo, Ramos, Pique, Dani Alves, Kroos, Modric, Iniesta, Messi, Suarez and Ronaldo – undoubtedly the best eleven in the world, even without Gareth Bale and Neymar.

While the latter two stars may have missed out, the line-up still includes five Madrid and four Barcelona players highlighting the dominating presence of these Spanish teams.

But what would the line-up look like without any top-flight La Liga players? We’ll keep Bayern Munich’s Manuel Neuer and Danni Alves of Juventus in there and see how well we fare…

Starting with the back four, Jerome Boateng should be one of the first names to grace the sheet. The centre-back won German footballer of the year for 2016 and for good reason, he put in several key performances for his country at Euro 2016 and helped Bayern Munich to the Bundesliga title. The German champions conceded just 17 goals all season and Boateng was crucial to that solid defence.

Alongside him should be the defensive Uruguayan rock Diego Godín. Indeed, it’s no surprise there is speculation of him being subject to a £30million transfer to Manchester United as the 30-year-old is enjoying a splendid season with Atletico Madrid.

Joining them at left-back is David Alaba, Boateng’s Munich teammate, who was voted as the Austrian player of the year for the sixth consecutive time in December last year. He helped Munich keep that impeccable defensive record last season and deserves his place in this eleven.

As a midfield three, Eden Hazard, Paul Pogba and Xabi Alonso would give more than a match to the actual Team of the Year.

Despite going missing in Chelsea’s defence last season, there is no denying Hazard’s talent and the Belgian was crucial in Chelsea winning the title in the first place. The winger has 12 goals to his name for both club and country this and has earned his place in this side.

Pogba certainly has something to prove with his £89.3million price tag but the United man is doing just that and is helping his side to achieve their top four hopes with four goals and three assists.The central midfielder chipped in with 11 goals for Juventus last season.

It was close between the last spot but Xabi Alonso just pips it. The midfielder may be aging, but he is more than capable of making up a competent midfield and helped Bayern to the title last season.

Up front, you guessed it, it’s another Bayern Munich player in the form of Robert Lewandowski. The striker possesses immense talent and scored an unbelievable 49 goals for club and country. Atletico forward Antoine Greizmann is also deserving of a place here, the Frenchman scored an incredible 39 goals for club and country last term and was fine form at the Euros, winning the tournament’s Golden Boot.

Finally, to complete the three you’ve got to have none other than Zlatan Ibrahimovic. The Swede has netted 13 times already this season and chalked off an impressive 50 last season.

The Team of the Year without any Barcelona or Real Madrid players would be hard pushed to beat the actual team of the year. Admittedly, the sides look pretty evenly matched until you assess the front three – clearly Ronaldo, Messi and Suarez just possess too much firepower for other dream teams to compete.