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Spanish giants Real Madrid and Barcelona's superb seasons have been rewarded in the eSports world as they dominated the newly-released La Liga Team of the Season So Far (TOTSSF) on FIFA 20. The full 20-man squad released by EA Sports on Friday contains special in-game items for up to five players from both Barcelona and Real Madrid, including a joint-highest rated card in the entirety of the game — a 99-rated TOTSSF Lionel Messi.
Although Martin Ødegaard plays for Real Sociedad, he is on loan from and on the books of Real Madrid, which boosts Los Blancos' tally to six players to Barcelona's five. The Norwegian's stunning performances have been thoroughly recognised and rewarded in-game with an upgraded 92-rated card.
EA Sports traditionally launch the Team of the Season (TOTS) in May. However, due to the unforeseen circumstances amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, they were resorted to launching a new variation of the promo under the title TOTSSF.
Lionel Messi's 99-rated card was thoroughly deserved after yet another phenomenal season, scoring 24 goals and setting up a further 16 over 31 games for Barcelona across all competitions.
Barcelona and Real Madrid steal the show
Apart from Barcelona's captain and undoubtedly their best-ever player, the Catalans have been represented well. EA have recognized real Madrid's defensive prowess as both their starting centre-halves and right-back were included in the team with significant upgrades. Top scorer Karim Benzema leads the way as the highest-rated Real Madrid player (97) along with Raphaël Varane.
97 Luis Suarez | Barcelona (23 games, 14 goals, 11 assists)
97 Karim Benzema | Real Madrid (36 games, 19 goals, nine assists)
97 Raphaë Varane | Real Madrid (33 games, three goals, 15 clean sheets)
96 Sergio Ramos | Real Madrid (34 games, seven goals, 15 clean sheets)
96 Toni Kroos | Real Madrid (33 games, five goals, nine assists)
96 Antoine Griezmann | Barcelona (37 games, 14 goals, four assists)
95 Marc-André ter Stegen | Barcelona (26 games, eight clean sheets)
94 Frenkie de Jong | Barcelona (37 games, two goals, four assists)
94 Dani Carvajal | Real Madrid (32 games, one goal, seven assists)
As for Ødegaard who is a player on Real Madrid's books, the wunderkind has registered seven goals and eight assists in 28 games across all competitions.
EA have shown their knack of selecting more popular players for such teams which caused regular players of the game to show their disdain on social media. For instance, Fede Valverde, a Real Madrid rising star has been a crucial figure for Los Blancos in the middle of the pitch, and his exclusion from the team has caused an outrage on Twitter.
In addition to this team that has been launched into in-game packs, a further two players have been released by EA, both who are once again are on Los Blancos' books — Sergio Reguilón (on loan at Sevilla CF) and Mariano Diaz. These players can be obtained at no cost, requiring players to complete a certain set of objectives in the game.
This takes Real Madrid's tally to a total of eight players, including Reguilón and Ødegaard. Reguilón has made 22 appearances for Sevilla so far while Mariano Diaz has seen just 21 minutes of La Liga action so far, scoring one goal. That one goal, however, came against Barcelona in the one minute he spent on the pitch.
