90min's World XI - Welcome to World Class 2020

08 January 2021 17:00

Here we are, at the very last article of 90min's Welcome to World Class 2020 series.

Over the last five weeks we at 90min have defined what is means to be a 'world class' footballer using a carefully designed metric, listed off who each of the 50 world class footballers in the world are (five in each position), and then ranked them (much to Twitter's dismay) in order how well they scored against said metric.

(No, this does not mean Neymar is the 28th best footballer in the world).

Now to round it all off - to cause even more debate - we've decided to narrow our positional lists of five all down to one player per position and put them all in a #W2WC super-team - the sort of the team that, were the fate of the world on the line, you'd back them to get the job done.

So, without further, here it is: the Welcome to World Class 2020 XI.

1. Goalkeeper and defenders

Alisson Becker (GK) - The 'Pele of goalkeepers' isn't a bad person to have between the sticks, is he? #W2WC Metric Score - 99.

Trent Alexander-Arnold (RB) - The Liverpool star may just be the best crosser of a ball in world football. Robert Lewandowski will have a field day with TAA pinging balls into the box from the right flank. #W2WC Metric Score - 101.

Virgil van Dijk (CB) - Undeniably the best centre back in the world, Van Dijk is well-versed in covering space in behind that's (usually) left by the attacking Alexander-Arnold, so he's the perfect man to anchor this team. #W2WC Metric Score - 104.

Sergio Ramos (CB) - Ramos at the heart of an all-Liverpool defence? For the memes alone this would be quality viewing. #W2WC Metric Score - 101.

Andy Robertson (LB) - There were plenty of shouts for Alphonso Davies in our #W2WC left-backs video, and while he is a more exciting player, Andy Robertson is the better player at the moment. He's the best two-way full-back in the world. #W2WC Metric Score - 102.

2. Midfielders

Joshua Kimmich (DM) - Realistically, you could play Kimmich on his own in this midfield and the team would still win every game it plays - he's that good. #W2WC Metric Score - 102.

Toni Kroos (CM) - Every player in this team has won trophies, but none have won quite as many trophies as Kroos. The man is a winning machine. #W2WC Metric Score - 97.

Kevin De Bruyne (AM) - KDB fended off some seriously fierce competition from Thomas Muller, Bruno Fernandes and Paulo Dybala to make the attacking mid position his own in this team. A truly wonderful footballer. #W2WC Metric Score - 98.

3. Forwards

Lionel Messi (RW) - Yes, Messi is in this team. Of course Messi is in this team. It's Messi. One of the best footballers of all time Messi. The best footballer of the last 20 years Messi. The Messi. #W2WC Metric Score - 102.

Robert Lewandowski (ST) - The only man to get full marks in our #W2WC metric, Lewa is the best, most 'world class', footballer in the world right now and it's not really even close. #W2WC Metric Score - 105.

Sadio Mane (LW) - The Liverpool forward just, by the finest margin imaginable, earned a place in this team over Cristiano Ronaldo. And he did so by being the Reds' game-breaking player in their Premier League title-winning season. #W2WC Metric Score - 104.

All of us at 90min would like to say a huge thanks to you for following this series. Be sure to keep following us on our website, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube for more top content, and you can be sure we'll be back in late 2021 for the next instalment of Welcome to World Class.

Source: 90min