Liverpool defender Virgil van Dijk and goalkeeper Alisson Becker were included in the FIFA team of the year, but their teammates Trent Alexander-Arnold, Andrew Robertson Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mané failed to make it to the final XI.
The best four defenders named by the FIFA were Van Dijk, his compatriot Matthijs de Ligt and Real Madrid duo Sergio Ramos and Marcelo.
Marcelo was restricted to 34 appearances in all competitions last season and wasn’t in the Brazil squad for the 2019 Copa America, which they won in front of their home fans.
Spanish newspaper Marca claims it’s a ‘surprise’ that Marcelo was included in FIFA’s Team of the Year and they put forward other left-backs.
Those are Liverpool’s Robertson, Barcelona’s Jordi Alba, Benfica’s Álex Grimaldo, Everton’s Lucas Digne and Ajax’s Nicolás Tagliafico.
Liverpool won the Champions League and finished behind Manchester City in the title race last season.
Robertson had a stellar campaign, managing 13 assists and was voted as the seventh best defender after Dani Alves and Alexander-Arnold. The Spanish newspaper are of the belief the Liverpool left-back had a good shout to be included in FIFA’s list.
Marca have asked their readers to vote on who should have been included, and Robertson is clearly ahead of the rest.
Out of the 20,400 votes [at the time of publishing], 43% of them believe Robertson should have been ahead in the FIFA Team of the Year. The South American has received only 12% of votes so far.
The closest man to Robertson is Jordi Alba on 25%.
This is the full results list for the #FIFABestAwards for the men’s team.
Shows rankings for each position. pic.twitter.com/HwoUHAjwR1
— Sport Witness (@Sport_Witness) September 23, 2019
