Right-Wing: Lionel Messi
Let’s be honest, Lionel Messi had a horrendous knockout stage of the Champions League. After being played out of the park by PSG in the first leg of their round of 16 tie, Barcelona completed one of the greatest comebacks of all-time as they overturned a 4-0 deficit to win the tie 6-5.
However, it was not because of the magic of Messi but in fact the genius of his partner in crime Neymar. The Brazilian scored the free-kick which turned the tide in Luis Enrique’s side in the last 7 minutes of the game.
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After that, Messi and company had a night to forget against Juventus in Turin as Paulo Dybala stole the show with two sublime goals. Barcelona tried to mount another improbable comeback against the Old Lady but were let down by the poor finishing of their front three – Messi, Suarez and Neymar – as they crashed out of the tournament.
Despite all of his struggles in the knockouts, the Argentine was head and shoulders above everyone else in the group stages having scored 10 goals in 5 games, and you cannot simply ignore any footballer with those statistics from the team of the season.
Yes, Neymar was arguably better than him in the memorable comeback against PSG but Messi also played a part, and before that he almost single-handedly carried the team through the group stage. The Brazilian didn’t merit a place based on just 7 minutes of a game – which were spell-binding, to be honest.
Will next year see the Brazilian take over from the Argentine as the Alpha Male at Camp Nou, your guess is as good as mine, and it would be best to wait and watch before making any assumptions.
Left-Wing: Kylian Mbappe
Featuring in the UEFA Champions League Team of the Season is no mean feat for any footballer but doing so at the age of 18 is simply incredible. AS Monaco’s Kylian Mbappe announced himself to the world and did that in some style as he helped his team reach the semi-final of the tournament.
The Frenchman scored 6 goals for the Stade Louis II outfit in the Champions League itself, which has seen his stock skyrocket, so much so that Real Madrid and Arsenal are said to be willing to break the transfer record for the teenager.
Mbappe is surely a once in a generation player and we have seen ample evidence of his abilities in the limited time that he has spent in top-flight football. Not only that, the 18-year-old has done something so early in his career that even Lionel Messi has failed to do – score past Gianluigi Buffon. In the semi-final defeat to Juventus, Mbappe scored his side’s only goal, a goal that gave them a glimmer of hope of an improbable comeback but one which was soon extinguished.
At 18, Mbappe has the world at his feet and going by the exploits in his first season, he surely will feature numerous times in the future on this list, or similar of this type.
