We are already in the final stretch of this exciting year 2018, which was full of good football. And to close it properly, I will make a recount of the 50 best players of the year. I want to clarify that only the calendar year will be taken into account, that is, what has been done from January to December 2018. In this first part we will reveal positions 50 to 41.
50)Hirving "Chucky" Lozano (Mexico, PSV Eindhoven).
There is no doubt that the "Chucky" had a devilish year 2018. The Mexican broke it all in his first season in the Eredivisie to consecrate champion with PSV, being also the top scorer of the tournament. And if we add to this his splendid performance in the World Cup, where he scored the goal against Germany that sealed a historic victory for the Mexican team, we find that Lozano began his experience in Europe in an unbeatable way. In total, the Mexican scored 20 goals throughout 2018 and it would not be surprising that next summer he will jump to one of the biggest in Europe in exchange for a record number for the Eredivisie.
49)Florian Thauvin (France, Olympique Marseille).
2018 not only represented the year of the resurrection of the young French striker's career, but was the best of his life. Thauvin scored an impressive 30 goals in 2018 and became the star of Olympique Marseille who made it to the UEFA Europa League final. His speed and quick dribbles were key to the good performance of his team in Ligue 1. His good performance earned him the call to the World Cup with the French national team; where he was crowned world champion despite not playing many minutes in the competition. Although Olympique has not had a good start to the season, Thauvin is still the only thing that shines in a team that is shipwrecked.
48)Ciro Immobile (Italy, SS Lazio).
Ciro is clearly a forward made to measure for the Serie A. During all 2018 he scored 29 goals, being one of the top scorers of the Italian tournament and maintaining the level shown last season. Immobile leads a Lazio that has resurfaced in the Italian arena under the tutelage of Simone Inzaghi. The Italian forward has managed to form an important union with Luis Alberto, becoming the referents of a Lazio that paints for big things.
47)Thibaut Courtois (Belgium, Chelsea FC/Real Madrid).
Bipolar and very strange year for the Belgian. His first semester was simply frightening. He went through his worst moment of his stay at Stamford Bridge and was one of the reasons that Chelsea could not fight for the titles last season. However, everything changed in Russia. With the Belgium shirt, Courtois showed his best level in years; It was simply unbeatable. Not in vain was named as the best goalkeeper of the tournament and became a vital piece for the third place achieved by the Belgians in Russia. His magnificent World Cup was worth his transfer to Real Madrid where, despite a start full of doubts and questions, has managed to settle and become the savior of Real Madrid; making Keylor Navas forget once and for all.
46)Sergio Ramos (Spain, Real Madrid).
Another year of collective success for the native of Camas, once again obtaining the UEFA Champions League with Real Madrid. The captain of the white team was important in the decisive instances of that competition when appearing in defense just when he was needed. However, in general and being targets has been a gray year for Sergio in terms of individual performance. The Spaniard completed one of the worst years in performance since returning to the central defense position. If Real Madrid was so far from Barcelona in the league last season and has had such a bad start in this season is due to the very poor level of the white defense commanded by Ramos. And it does not help the awful World Cup that he did with Spain where they simply gave sorry for others.
45)Gareth Bale (Wales, Real Madrid).
A year full of contradictions for the Welsh. When it looked like he was finished in Madrid, he managed to complete a good first semester by scoring several important goals in La Liga that allowed his team to complete a decent performance in the domestic championship, in addition to being the figure in several of those games. He was also the great hero of the Thirteenth Champions League for Real Madrid, with his historic goal in Kiev in the first ball he played. That beginning of the year made him revalue as a player, to the point that Real Madrid trusted him as a new benchmark and star of the team after the traumatic exit of Cristiano Ronaldo last summer. Nothing is further from reality. There is no other word for this second semester of Bale more than "disappointing" and, in retrospect, thinking something different was somewhat deluded on our part. With highs and lows throughout 2018 the Welshman managed to complete a year neither good nor bad, like all his time at Real Madrid. In total he scored the not inconsiderable figure of 24 goals throughout the year.
44)Neymar (Brazil, Paris Saint-Germain).
Neymar left Barcelona on his way to PSG with the firm intention of becoming the best footballer in the world. The result after his first year away from Barcelona is that the Brazilian completed his worst year since he arrived in the Old Continent. An injury deprived him of playing from February until the end of last season, where PSG revalidated the championship in Ligue 1 without any opposition, but returned to disappoint in the Champions League. However, Neymar still had an ace up his sleeve: the 2018 World Cup Russia. Despite arriving as top favorites, Brazil never managed to realize their full potential and ended up in the Quarter finals with a Neymar that did not reach 100% due to the injury. The Brazilian star showed very little football in Russia, where most of the time was spent rolling on the ground feigning faults. Neymar managed to score 28 goals trash against teams of little time; a lying statistic that does not resemble the reality of the poor season of the Brazilian, who happened to be "the forgotten one" of world football. More than justified his low position in the TOP of this year.
43)Toni Kroos (Germany, Real Madrid).
Again Kroos was vital for Real Madrid to return to be crowned champion of Champions with his well-known handling of the ball. However, we can not stop saying that the German had his worst year since he arrived in Madrid. I'm not saying he was very poor, but he was very far from his best level. It could be said that it was even irregular in certain sections of the season, a word that sounds sacrilegious when it comes to Toni Kroos. And his World Cup was not much better than we say. He found himself completely nullified by rival teams during the World Cup in Russia and could not exercise his role as motor and creator of the team's game. The fact that Kroos could not handle the German midfield was one of the causes of the German embarrassment in the World Cup.
42)Ivan Rakitic (Croatia, FC Barcelona).
After a first half of many doubts with FC Barcelona, the Croatian managed to demonstrate his best football in Russia. Along with Modric, he was one of the most important players of that Croatian team managing the midfield to perfection, besides being able to make decisive for Croatia to reach the final of the contest. There is no doubt that Rakitic was one of the best players in the World Cup. After this, the Croatian has not managed to reach his best level with his club, completing a 2018 highs and lows; where it seems that finally will end up losing his position as a starter against Arturo Vidal.
41)Lucas Hernández (France, Atlético Madrid).
Lucas has not only made it clear that he was the good of the Hernandez brothers, but has proven to be one of the best left-backs in the world. The young career of Lucas is composed of a set of successful decisions. Since not leaving Atlético Madrid to sign for Real Madrid, until deciding to play with France to the detriment of Spain. All this coupled with his undeniable talent have been the causes of dreamlike 2018 that has lived the French. In his club he has been able to take advantage of the opportunities and as a result he has won the starting position to a historic mattress club as is Filipe Luis. And those same performances made Deschamps prefer him over other more renowned sides to be the holder of France in Russia 2018. With his speed, defensive safety and powerful physique was vital to obtain the championship in Russia. Now he can say that he is world champion with only 22 years old.
Comments