FIFA World XI With The Current Standing: N’Golo Kante Leads The Midfield
Truth be told, the 2020–21 season has been an emotional roller-coaster for the Blues fans – from high hopes after a summer transfer spree, through an extremely low point in mid-season, and to the Champions League triumph in the end.
With the new season yet to begin, we thought it would be nice to take a look at the best possible starting XI in football as of today.
As you should be expecting, N’Golo Kante is one of the midfield enforcers after he has been truly exceptional this season.
Here is the FIFA World XI as of today using current stats from players performances across the world.
Oblak; Hakimi, Dias, Maguire, Shaw; Kante, Gundogan, De Bruyne; Mbappe, Benzema, Messi
FIFA World XI As Things Stand
Goal Keeper: Jan Oblak
Being named the player of the season in any of Europe’s top-five leagues is a big deal and for that reason, there is no chance Jan Oblak would miss out on our FIFA World XI for the 2020-21 season, after being named La Liga’s player of the season for helping Atletico to La Liga title.
Oblak registered no less than 103 saves in 38 Spanish top-flight matches while conceding just 25 goals.
Defense
Luke Shaw: The Manchester United defender is literally killing it on the field. He was one of the most consistent and regular players for the Red Devils as they ended 2020-21 as Premier League runners-up.
At the Euro 2020, Luke has continued his good form for England. He assisted twice as the Three Lions beat Ukraine 4-0 to qualify for the semi-final, earning him praises from Brazil legend Roberto Carlos.
Harry Maguire: The Englishman played nearly all games for the Red Devils last season (34 league appearances) and only missed a few towards the end through an injury. Like Sergio Ramos, Maguire is turning into a center-back who can also score – he netted twice for the Red Devils last term.
Also against Ukraine, the center-back netted a brilliant header and won 100% aerial and ground duels. Now that there is a strong chance England could actually win the Euro this time around, and Maguire cannot be overlooked for his excellent performances.
Ruben Dias: The Portuguese won the Premier League with Manchester City and has been phenomenal for his country as well.
Dias played four times for Portugal at the Euro 2020 but sadly, his team crashed out in the last 16. Nevertheless, there’s plenty of reasons why Dias deserves a spot here.
With City, the 24-year-old won an average of 2 duels per game last season. Additionally, he averaged 0.8 tackles, 1.1 interceptions, and 2.8 clearances per game for the English champions.
Again, Dias is adept at passing the ball forward, evidenced by an average of 3.4 long balls. He’s an accurate passer as well, with an accuracy of 93%.
Hakimi Achraf: It might be an unpopular opinion, but the truth is Hakimi was arguably one of the most crucial players for Inter Milan in their run-up to being Serie A champions.
The right-back, usually deployed by Antonio Conte as a right-wing-back returned seven goals and eight assists to make all his fans think he is a forward.
Defensively, Achraf also averaged 1.6 tackles, 1.4 interceptions, and 1.1 shots per game in 2020/21. Despite being only 22, Hakimi also made an impact in the Champions League for Inter.
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Midfield
N’Golo Kante: The first name on any manager’s team list whenever he is fit. Even though France have already been eliminated from Euro 2020, one can hardly blame the Chelsea man for Les Bleus’ loss to Switzerland in the tournament’s last-16 round.
Despite the failure face by his national side, Kante is sill considered by many as the frontrunner for the 2021 Ballon d’Or for his exceptional performances for Chelsea last term after helping the Blues to their second Champions League title in history.
Kevin De Bruyne: Had it been that Kante’s Chelsea did not beat De Bruyne’s City in the Champions League final, the Belgian could have been in the Frenchman’s position right now as the frontrunner for the Ballon d’Or.
Kevin had been extremely unlucky with injuries in the 2020-21 season as he fractured his facial bones against the Blues and thus missed Belgium’s preparations for this summer’s European Championship.
Despite his injury niggles, Kevin De Bruyne was one of the biggest reasons behind Manchester City’s victory in the Premier League last season and there are few who could challenge Kevin’s place in our FIFA World XI.
Ilkay Gundogan: While KDB was out injured, it would be fair to say that City hardly mentioned the Belgian’s absence due to Gundogan’s phenomenal form midway through the 2020-21 campaign.
Secondly, last season was the most prolific one in the 30-year-old’s career as he netted 17 goals in 46 appearances for the Cityzens.
Attack
Kylian Mbappe: Paris Saint-Germain failed to lift the Champions League and the Ligue 1 titles last season presenting Kylian Mbappe with just French Cup as his only major trophy of the season.
However, the 22-year-old showed he is a truly generational talent, becoming only a third non-Barcelona player to score a hat-trick at Camp Nou and bagging a brace against Bayern. His 42 goals in 47 games for PSG show that only the sky is the limit for Mbappe.
Karim Benzema: Since Ronaldo left Madrid in 2018, Benzema has been carrying Los Blancos’ attacking burden almost alone. That’s no different from last season’s as the striker single-handedly carried Real Madrid’s attack last season. He was the Whites’ primary offensive threat, as he scored or assisted almost half (32) of all 67 Real Madrid’s La Liga goals.
Plus his majestic goals against Chelsea in the Champions League and Switzerland in the Euros prove he is the best center-forward in football right now.
Lionel Messi: Many would say the Barcelona captain is past his peak and is on the decline. But in reality, most players would be honored to reach Messi’s ‘decline’ numbers.
The Argentine scored 30 goals in 35 games to be crowned La Liga’s top scorer. Not only that, Messi carried his Barcelona team in La Liga, keeping them alive in the competition until the last matchday, and he is equally doing wonders at Copa America right now, recording 8 goals contribution in 5 games so far.
Would you like to change anything? Feel free to share your thoughts with us via our comments section below!
