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Champions League: This is the team of the season

2021-05-31T02:00:36.858Z


Manchester City and Chelsea fight for the premier class title in the final. On the way there were old masters, surprise winners, players who spoke up when needed. An appreciation.


Enlarge image

Pepe from FC Porto: At 38 years old, still one of the best

Photo:

Daniel Castro / imago images / Pressinphoto

32 teams competed to win the Champions League, with only two remaining, Manchester City and Chelsea FC. On Saturday evening they face each other in the final (9 p.m., TV: Sky, live ticker SPIEGEL.de). For City it is the first final in the club's history, but thanks to support from Abu Dhabi it does not come as a surprise. "We always win for the money, that's the truth," said Pep Guardiola once during this season. "We wouldn't be able to do this without good players."

So far, so unromantic.

The good news: Not only City has special players in its ranks, other teams also have them, including small teams.

We have put together a selection of professionals who have shaped the Champions League season in particular, old and young, stars and lesser-known players, because of their performances on the pitch - but also off the beaten track.

Édouard Mendy, Chelsea FC, goal

There can only be one goalkeeper and there are good arguments to give the place to Man City's Ederson.

He conceded only four goals in the current competition, his long pass before the 1-0 in the semi-final second leg against Paris Saint-Germain is one of the most spectacular moments of the season.

The number one of this team is called

Édouard Mendy from Chelsea

.

He conceded one less goal in the current competition (only three) and played to zero in eight of eleven games.

This makes it the symbol of the Tuchel's defensive strength, and it also has the potential to come out as a surprise of the season.

Last summer he came to Stamford Bridge from Rennes, already 28 years old, with international experience of four Europa League games and six international appearances for Senegal.

Two years earlier, Chelsea had spent 80 million euros on goalkeeper Kepa Arrizabalaga.

But he's on the bench, and Mendy is in the premier class final.

Juan Cuadrado, Juventus, defense

Juan Cuadrado

was once one of the most exciting wingers in football.

At the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, the Colombian scored one goal and prepared four more.

But Cuadrado reinvented himself again and again, he slipped into new roles and played where the coaches needed him.

Sometimes on the left, sometimes in the center, in the 2014/2015 season Cuadrado completed eleven games as hanging tip for Florence.

Cuadrado could be moved like a chess piece, a valuable one.

Today, 33 years old, the

Juventus professional is

mostly at home on the right defensive side, and he has also assumed this position as one is used to from him: offensive, eager to run, strong in combinations.

In this Champions League season, he has prepared six goals in just six appearances.

Nobody made it anymore.

Pepe, FC Porto, defense

The fact that Cuadrado and Juventus ended early in the round of 16 was also due to

Pepe from

FC Porto

.

Pepe, now 38 years old, was the outstanding player in the two duels, always the winner in the air, a resting heart rate in the build-up.

In the second leg he cleared a ball just before the goal line, when the keeper was already defeated, he gave commands for 120 minutes until extra time.

Pepe is seen by many as a rough leg, against Juventus the former Madrid professional got along with almost no fouls.

His defensive strength is also needed again in the national selection, he is going to the European Championship with Portugal and will meet the DFB-Elf in the group stage.

Rúben Dias, Manchester City, defense

If Ederson does not make it

into the SPIEGEL team

as a symbol of

Manchester City's

defensive power

, then

Rúben Dias will

.

The Portuguese moved from Benfica to City at the end of September, costing a transfer fee of 68 million euros, a proud price for a defender (making him the fifth most expensive defender in history).

Pep Guardiola says of him: "If a defender plays for himself, it's a problem, but he thinks of everyone, the midfielders, even the wingers." The 24-year-old gives 90 minutes of commands, he's a strong leader, and he may be the very one player Manchester City missed in the hunt for the handlebar pot.

Marcelo, Real Madrid, defense

The nomination of

Real Madrid's

Marcelo

is done not for sporting reasons, rather nostalgic. You have to be so honest. The now 33-year-old was once one of the most creative footballers in the world, he reinvented the game in his position, a game-making left-back. And he was a role model for a new generation. Always offensive, always on the attack, without completely neglecting defensive work.

Only: this player is no longer Marcelo.

You could see that very well in the semi-finals of Madrid against Chelsea, this game was Marcelo's first big knockout game in the Champions League since the premier league final in 2018. He's gotten older, running less strong, the passes no longer reach their destination as razor-sharp as they used to be.

As a four-time Champions League winner, Marcelo helped shape the premier class.

His nomination is a reminder and a thank you for that time.

The future belongs to other professionals.

Jude Bellingham, Borussia Dortmund, midfield

“It's unbelievable he's only 17 years old,” said Pep Guardiola: “Maybe he's a liar.

He's so good, a fantastic player. "

The young man the City coach

raved about

after the quarter-finals against

Borussia Dortmund

is

Jude Bellingham

. He was omnipresent in the duels against the English, a courageous leader, he scored a goal and is the youngest goalscorer of a Bundesliga club in the premier class. Overall, Bellingham came in his first season at a higher professional level in 46 competitive games. It is said that at some point young professionals will go through a performance slump, maybe that will also be the case at Bellingham, but nothing has yet to be seen.

You will probably soon see the England international in the shirt of a club that regularly competes for the Champions League title.

Maybe at Manchester City, who knows.

But it is quite likely that Bellingham will help shape the competition in the coming years.

N'Golo Kanté, Chelsea FC, midfield

During his time as PSG coach, Thomas Tuchel wanted to bring Chelsea midfielder N'Golo Kanté to Paris.

Nothing came of that, but they still came together.

Tuchel has been training the blues since January, and there is probably no other player whom Tuchel praises more often.

Kanté is “a gift”, one of the “best in the world” and “we all love him”.

Trust often pays off in football, Kanté was the guarantee for Chelsea's final move with outstanding performances against Atlético in the quarter-finals.

Kanté was often injured last season and his rhythm was constantly disrupted.

In the meantime, the 30-year-old is fully operational and again that game-intelligent professional who can fill gaps like no other.

A clearer who never straddles, who brings the perfect mix of timing, skill and surprise.

Maybe PSG Tuchel should have fulfilled the transfer request back then.

Tete, Shakhtar Donetsk, midfield

Madrid's court newspaper “Marca” wrote of a “scandal”; in the first 45 minutes (score: 0: 3) against

Shakhtar Donetsk

, the royal team delivered

a performance that, according to “As”, directly “into the horror cabinet of 118 years of club history” wandered.

In the end it was only 2: 3, but the humiliation of the first 45 minutes remained.

Often times like this, those who caused the debacle of overwhelming power are neglected.

The winners, the surprising heroes.

At that time, Shakhtar Donetsk traveled to Madrid with ten Corona failures, with great worries and many question marks.

But then it started, then

Tete

scored

the first goal and the spectacle took its course.

It remained the only goal of the young Brazilian in the current competition, but this one could hardly have had more effect.

With the winners and losers.

Demba Ba, Istanbul Başakşehir FK, storm

He was not wearing a jersey, he was wrapped in a training jacket on the evening this is about.

Demba Ba

didn't have to kick the ball to get noticed this season. He spoke up. With his classification around the racism incident at the game between PSG and

Başakşehir

, he not only explained to the TV viewers, who could hear every word, what had gone wrong here, but also to those responsible.

"You'd never

>

this White

<

say but

>

this man

'

.

So why do you say

>

this Black

<

if You mean a black man? "Said Ba fourth official Sebastian Coltescu, in the direction of Başakşehirs Assistant coach Pierre Achille Webó" negru "had said, Romanian for" Black ".

Bas message: Whether »Negru« or the N-word that some professionals seem to have heard - a racist classification is one way or another if people are identified by their skin color.

At that time, both teams left the field in the Paris Prinzenpark after 23 minutes.

They followed the spokesman Demba Ba.

Erling Haaland, Borussia Dortmund, storm

It is only a marginal aspect and certainly not the worst in times of the corona crisis, but we must regret all those who

have not yet been able to see

Erling Haaland

from BVB

live in the stadium. The Norwegian upstart impressed in the Champions League season, especially in the round of 16 against Sevilla FC. He scored ten goals in eight games, making Haaland the top scorer in this year's competition.

His force, how he brings his body one centimeter closer to the ball than the opponent, his speed, the sprints from his own half to the opponent's penalty area - all of this already looks spectacular on TV.

But, here's a promise, the 20-year-old's class looks even more impressive live in the stadium.

Should full numbers of fans be back in the stadiums soon - Haaland is a good reason to attend a football match.

Kylian Mbappé, Paris Saint-Germain, storm

Anyone who scores three goals in Camp Nou, in the fortress of FC Barcelona, ​​must not be absent from the SPIEGEL team.

Kylian Mbappé

experienced that magical night with the Catalans in the 4-1 victory in mid-February, he also scored in the second leg and thus ensured the quarter-finals of his Paris team. FC Bayern waited there, and the Frenchman also cleared last year's winner out of the way, scoring two goals in the first leg and taking revenge for the lost CL final last year. The future of world football belongs to Mbappé, he is fast, he is a strong dribbler and only 22, he has everything to follow in the footsteps of Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi.

Source: spiegel

All sports articles on 2021-05-31

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