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There is at least one South American player in all but two teams (Hoffenheim and Borussia Dortmund) that qualified for next season’s UEFA Champions League from Europe’s Top 5 leagues. In almost all these teams. these South American players are key members of their respective squads.
Take for example the record-breaking Manchester City squad which has seven players from South America or the Real Madrid side that completed a hat-trick of Champions League which has two Brazilians that started all three finals.
In the 2017/18 season, the top goal scorer and assist provider in Serie A, Ligue 1 and La Liga are all South Americans.
The continent has also produced some of the game’s all-time greats like Pele and Maradona. There is never a shortage of world-class South American players, especially forwards.
Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Peru and Uruguay are the five South American teams that qualified for this year’s FIFA World Cup. Picking the strongest South American XI from these countries means a lot of superstars have to be left out.
Goalkeeper - Alisson (Brazil)
This wasn’t a very tough decision to make. Alisson’s only real competition for this spot is his compatriot Ederson but the fact that Alisson is Brazil’s No.1 made the decision very easy.
The Roma man spent last season as an understudy to Wojciech Szczęsny but this season, he has outdone the Pole who joined rivals Juventus.
According to WhoScored.com, Alisson had a save success rate of 80.1% which is the second highest in Europe’s Top five leagues behind only Jan Oblak. He made 92 saves in 34 league games with an impressive average of 3.41 saves per goal conceded and a distribution accuracy of 83%.
The 25-year-old was named in the UEFA Champions League squad of the season after playing a crucial role in Roma’s incredible run to the semifinal.
Full-backs - Gabriel Mercado (Argentina) and Marcelo (Brazil)
The right-back position was the toughest decision to make in this XI but it would have been very easy if Dani Alves was fit and playing for Brazil at the World Cup.
It was a tough call between Danilo of Brazil and Manchester City, Santiago Arias of Colombia and PSV, Maxi Pereira of Uruguay and Porto; and Gabriel Mercado of Argentina and Sevilla. The decision went in favour of the latter after considering their age, experience, the club they play for and their importance at their respective clubs.
Mercado is capable of playing as a centre-back also, but he has predominantly played as a right-back for his country since the Copa America in 2016 taking over from Pablo Zabaleta.
The choice for the other full-back was quite easy because you can’t choose anyone else over the man who has been named in the FIFProXI in the last three years and also played a crucial role in Real Madrid’s recent success.
Marcelo has played 452 games for Real Madrid so far and the 30-year-old has every chance of beating the record held by Roberto Carlos for most appearances for Real Madrid by a foreign player (527).
Centre-backs - Diego Godín (Uruguay) and José María Giménez (Uruguay)
There were options like Thiago Silva, Marquinhos, Miranda, Nicolas Otamendi and Davinson Sanchez for the two centre-back spots but it would only be fair to pick the centre-back pairing that has worked very well for Diego Simeone’s Atletico Madrid.
The 32-year-old Diego Godin is terribly underrated. He was at Atletico Madrid prior to Simeone’s arrival and has made 305 appearances for the club in seven seasons winning as many trophies.
He notably scored the goal that clinched Atletico Madrid the title in 2013/14 on the final day of the season against Barcelona.
The Uruguay captain was joined by his compatriot Jose Gimenez at Atletico Madrid in 2013 but he made only one appearance in his debut season.
In the next four seasons, he has gone on to become a key member of the famed Atletico defense that has kept an astonishing 200 clean sheets in 378 games under the Simeone.
Uruguay have some world class players in their squad but the experience Godin and Gimenez have playing together could be a decisive factor if they are to advance deep into the tournament.
Midfield - Casemiro (Brazil), Philippe Coutinho (Brazil) and James Rodriguez (Colombia)
Some notable omissions had to be made in midfield like Argentina’s veteran defensive midfielder Javier Mascherano and Brazil’s Fernandinho and Paulinho. That being said, it was fairly easy to pick the midfield of this side.
Casemiro has excelled at Real Madrid in the last three seasons and was a starter in the Champions League final in the last three seasons. His brilliant form at club level also earned him a starting role for Brazil ahead of the likes of Fernandino and Fabinho.
The midfield also contains another Brazilian, Philippe Coutinho, who also plays at club level for a Spanish giant. The 25-year-old is currently the third most expensive player on the planet following his move from Liverpool to Barcelona.
Despite playing for two different teams this season, Coutinho ended the season with 22 goals and 14 assists to his name in all competitions.
Completing the midfield is the Golden Boot winner of the 2014 FIFA World Cup - James Rodriguez. The Colombian spent the last season on loan at Bayern Munich scoring 7 goals and assisting 11 in 19 starts and four substitute appearances in the Bundesliga.
The 26-year-old is the vice-captain of his country and will be hoping to replicate his heroics from four years ago and add to the 21 goals he has from 62 games.
Forwards - Lionel Messi (Argentina), Luis Suárez (Uruguay) and Neymar (Brazil)
Even though we had to choose from a long list of forwards comprising of Sergio Aguero, Paulo Dybala, Gonzalo Higuain, Angel Di Maria, Gabriel Jesus, Roberto Firmino, Douglas Costa, Radamel Falcao, Paolo Guerrero, Jefferson Farfán and Edinson Cavani, the three forwards were the easiest picks in this entire XI.
Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez and Neymar famous played together at Barcelona for three seasons and the trio is now widely regarded as the greatest attacking trio of all-time.
During the three seasons ‘MSN’ played together, they scored a collective 364 goals! That’s an average of at least 121 goals every season!
It goes without saying that the hopes of their respective countries are on their shoulders. Suarez and Messi are the all-time leading goal scorers for their countries with 50 and 64 goals respectively.
Neymar with 54 goals in 84 games just needs two more goals to become Brazil’s third highest goalscorer but at the age of 26, he can easily surpass Pele and Ronaldo in 1st and second places with 77 and 62 goals respectively in due time.
Do you agree with our choices? Sound off your opinion in the comments section below!
