The Italian and French newspapers La Gazzetta dello Sport and L’Equipe have included Cristiano Ronaldo in this year’s best starting lineup.
The Real Madrid player was the only one La Liga footballer picked by La Gazzetta, but not by L’Equipe. The Italian sports daily excluded Barcelona’s star Leo Messi.
La Gazzetta emphasized Los Blancos player overall accomplishment in 2013 with his national team, Portugal and his club, Real Madrid.
The Italian newspaper named in their starting lineup German goalkeeper Manuel Neuer, German defender Philipp Lahm, Serbian Neven Subotic, Brazilian Thiago Silva, Austrian David Alaba, German midfielders Ilkay Gundogan and Bastian Schweinsteiger, Belgian playmaker Eden Hazard, Polish striker Robert Lewandowski, and French winger Franck Ribery.
L’Equipe also mentioned six of the players included in La Gazzetta’s eleven: Neuer, Ribery, Lahm, Cristiano Ronaldo, Schweinsteiger and Thiago Silva.
The players not mentioned in La Gazzetta, but included in the French newspaper’s team of the year are Belgian defender Vincent Kompany, Spanish left-back Jordi Alba, Ivorian midfielder Yaya Toure, German forward Gerard Muller, and Leo Messi.
