Who made the cut? (Getty)
Who made the cut? (Getty)

Considering the fortunes of England’s teams in Europe in recent years it perhaps shouldn’t come as a surprise that there are no Premier League players included in the 2016 Champions League Team of the Year.

However with Manchester City progressing through the knock-out stages to the semi-finals last season and then reaching the knock-out stages again this year, they might feel aggrieved to have no representatives. Kevin de Bruyne was sensational as PSG were knocked out in the quarter-finals while Sergio Aguero scored a hat-trick against Borussia Monchengladbach during this season’s tournament.

There are others who will feel hard done by. Barcelona striker Luis Suarez misses out, as does Robert Lewandowski who scored crucial goals last season and has five to his name this term. However it’s difficult to see how any of Cristiano Ronaldo, Antoine Greizmann (who both reached the 2016 final) and Lionel Messi, who has 10 goals in the competition this season, could be left out.

Ronaldo with the trophy (Getty)
Ronaldo with the trophy (Getty)

Perhaps one surprise is in the inclusion of Andres Iniesta. Barcelona failed to flatter in the Champions League for much of 2016. He is one of eight La Liga players in the side (four Real Madrid, three Barcelona and one Atletico Madrid).

Leonardo Bonucci and Gianluigi Buffon of Juventus and Jerome Boateng of Bayern make up the rest. Considering Bayern knocked Juventus out of the competition last season, it might have made more sense if those figures were the other way round.

Here’s the Champions League Team of the Year 2016…

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Over seven million people voted in the poll to determine the team of the year.

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