Manchester City Players Named in UEFA Team of the Year Shortlist

After a successful campaign in which Manchester City made a clean sweep of the domestic trophies in England, several players from the team have made the shortlist for the UEFA Team of the Year. The seven players that were selected include Goalkeeper Ederson, defender Aymeric Laporte, midfielders David Silva and Kevin De Bruyne, forwards Sergio Aguero, Raheem Sterling as well as Bernardo Silva.

All of these played a significant role in the team’s success helping the club make history in the process. City became the first men’s team to ever win an English domestic treble after lifting the Premier League, Carabao Cup and FA Cup.

However, the team’s domestic success was overshadowed by the failure to progress in Europe as the team was sensationally knocked out of the Champions League by Tottenham. The Sky Blues came close to securing progression to the semi-final of the competition. Despite beating the London side 4-3 in the second leg of the quarter-final at the Etihad Stadium to record a 4-4 aggregate score, the visitors progressed on away goals.

The Champions League has become the primary measure of success for teams on the continent. That partly accounted for why Liverpool players and manager have received several accolades in the last few months. Virgil van Dijk achieved a rare feat for center-backs and defenders as a whole by winning the UEFA Player of the Year award recently.

Therefore, several Liverpool players are expected to be named in the final line up. Notwithstanding, several players from other clubs made the shortlist. The full list of nominees is as follows:

Goalkeepers:

Alisson Becker - Liverpool

Ederson Moraes - Manchester City

Jan Oblak - Atletico Madrid

Andre Onana - Ajax

Andre Ter Stegen - Barcelona

Defenders:

Alexander-Arnold, Andy Robertson, Virgil van Dijk - Liverpool.

Caesar Azpilicueta - Chelsea

Jan Vertonghen - Tottenham

Daley Blind, Nicolas Tagliafico - Ajax

Matthijs De Ligt - Ajax and Juventus

Sergio Ramos - Real Madrid

Aymeric Laporte - Manchester City

Gerard Pique, Jordi Alba - Barcelona

Joshua Kimmich - Bayern Munich

Jose Gimenez - Atletico Madrid

Kalidou Koulibaly - Napoli

Midfielders:

Thiago Alcantara - Bayern Munich

Bernardo Silva, Kevin De Bruyne, David Silva - Manchester City

Bruno Fernandes - Sporting Lisbon

Hakim Ziyech, Donny Van de Beek - Ajax

Frenkie De Jong - Ajax and Barcelona

Angel Di Maria - Paris Saint-Germain

Mario Ruiz - Napoli

Fabinho, Jordan Henderson, Georgino Wijnaldum- Liverpool

Jorginho, N’golo Kante - Chelsea

Forwards:

Sergio Aguero, Raheem Sterling - Manchester City

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang - Arsenal

Roberto Firmino, Sadio Mane, Mohamed Salah - Liverpool

Dusan Tadic - Ajax

Lionel Messi - Barcelona

Eden Hazard - Chelsea and Real Madrid

Harry Kane, Son Heung-min - Tottenham

Robert Lewandowski, Serge Gnabry - Bayern Munich

Cristiano Ronaldo - Juventus

Kylian Mbappe - Paris Saint-Germain

——It remains to be seen which of the City players will make the final cut as they face stiff competition from a host of other stars in the 50-man list.