FIFA 17 is every video game loving football fan’s favourite pastime. Be it on the laptop or console, or before an appointment or exam, there is always time and space for a game of FIFA. Such has been the growing success of the EA Sports FIFA series that FIFA 17 was the highest selling edition of the game to date, a testimony to its ever growing popularity.
What makes the franchise so popular is that it gives gamers the ability to play with their favourite footballers from around the world and train and play with or as them to defeat the best footballing teams in the world. The ever growing appeal of FIFA is also due to the advancement in graphics systems, player likenesses and increasingly realistic gameplay.
While FIFA gives us ordinary, aspirational footballers the chance to play as our favourite heroes on the pitch, what happens when footballers themselves pick their teams and play themselves in FIFA gameplay has been documented by the folks at EA in the form of FIFA player tournaments at various clubs.
We reveal to you what happened when players from the world’s biggest clubs came together to play FIFA against each other.
Bayern Munich
The Bayern Munich player’s FIFA tournament featured winger Douglas Costa partnering full-back Juan Bernat in a team against Holger Badstuber and American youngster Julian Green. The match-up was set to be a close contest given that both sets of teams picked Bayern Munich as their team of choice.
The match was exciting from the beginning with Costa and Bernat’s Bayern, in red coming close to opening the scoring with the first chance of the game. They soon went down to ten men as David Alaba was sent off for a tackle from behind on Lewandowski. Costa and Bernat subsequently scored to take the lead but the man advantage soon began to count with Badstuber and Green soon equalising, taking the lead and eventually making it 3-2.
The match was finally settled after the Badstuber- Green pairing found Lewandowski in acres of space to walk the ball home after his opposite number had pulled one back for Costa-Bernat’s Bayern Munich, leaving the opposition thoroughly humiliated.
Juventus
The Old Lady’s FIFA tournament saw central defence partners Andrea Barzagli teaming up with Daniele Rugani against Claudio Marchisio and Medhi Benatia. Both sets of players again opted for Juventus as their club of choice and it was a case of the Old Lady playing the Old Lady.
A careless goal kick taken by the Marchisio-Benatia pairing saw them concede as Paulo Dybala calmly chipped Buffon after being passed the ball from the goal kick at the edge of the area, much to their chagrin. The lead was then extended to two goals after a Dybala shot bounced off Buffon only for Miralem Pjanic to tap the ball in for a 2-0 lead.
Marchisio and Benatia had no option but to go all out in search for goals and they were soon punished on the break after over committing in attack led to a one on one situation for Gonzalo Higuain who calmly finished to make the score 3-0.
Benatia and Marchisio twice came close to scoring but were slightly off target in the first instance and were denied a goal by the post in the second attempt.
Manchester United
The Red Devils FIFA tournament was a star-studded affair with eight members of the Manchester United squad facing off against each other in a FIFA 17 winner takes all match. Daley Blind, Wayne Rooney, Jesse Lingard and Anthony Martial in one team faced off against the combined might of Paul Pogba, David De Gea, Timothy Fosu-Mensah and Ashley Young.
A competitive first half ended goalless after multiple missed opportunities by both teams. Paul Pogba’s team took the lead with the gamer Pogba scoring a typical unstoppable thunderbolt from distance with his virtual version in the game, much to the disappointment of Rooney and Co.
After a typical defensively strong performance of teams coached by Jose Mourinho, the game ended at 1-0. Paul Pogba and his team were given trophies by EA but Martial and the others left to watch, thinking what could have been.
Real Madrid
Los Blancos FIFA 17 tournament was a tad bit lower on star value than what would have been expected from the Galacticos of world football. Nevertheless, a lineup of players boasting Raphael Varane, youth product Jese, Daniel Carvajal, Dennis Cheryshev, Danilo and Casemiro have enough class to hold their own against each other.
The Real Madrid FIFA tournament had Casemiro, Keylor Navas, Danilo and Cheryshev playing against Nacho, Jese, Varane and Carvajal. The first goal in a keenly contested fixture was scored by Varane and Co after Cristiano Ronaldo was put through on goal on a counter attack and scored after cheekily chipping Keylor Navas who had charged off his line.
Their next goal came off a move which found them in a three on one situation with Keylor Navas after some good wing play down the left flank.
A Cristiano Ronaldo penalty for Casemiro cut short the lead to only one goal and the match was back on. They soon had the chance to go level but James Rodriguez missed a one on one chance to restore parity.
The game was put to bed by Varane and Co after his virtual avatar scored after beating the defenders to the loose ball post-Keylor Navas’ tackle on Ronaldo.
Borussia Dortmund
The Borussia Dortmund player’s FIFA tournament was in a different format to those in the prior slides. While the other games were a winner takes all match, the Dortmund players took part in a knockout format tournament with their own Ultimate Teams facing off against each other.
In the first semi-final, Nuri Sahin took on striker Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang while the second semi-final featured Marco Reus taking on Adrian Ramos. Nuri Sahin was taken apart by the Gabonese striker to the tune of 4-0 while Marco Reus defeated Adrian Ramos by a clinical 2-0 scoreline.
In the final between Dortmund’s two star forwards, Aubameyang took the lead with his virtual self, scoring a blinder into the roof of the net from a tight angle. Not to be left out, the German winger came back into the match in the 70th minute when he scored from an intelligently worked out free-kick from the edge of the box.
The winning goal was scored by the German winger’s team when he was given the freedom to charge into the goal area and take a shot into the roof of the net to seal the deal for his side.
