Messi, Villa, Xavi, Sneijder and Co: The FIFA World XI in Pics

In 2010, we saw many players take the football world by storm after great performances in their respective league's and in the World Cup.

In the last week, we saw the FIFA World XI get selected. Of which, eight played their domestic football in La Liga while three players played in Serie A.

Those 11 players are as followed: Iker Casillas (Real Madrid/Spain), Maicon (Inter Milan/Brazil), Lucio (Inter Milan/Brazil), Gerard Pique (Barcelona/Spain), Carles Puyol (Barcelona/Spain), Wesley Sneijder (Inter Milan/Netherlands), Xavi (Barcelona/Spain), Andres Iniesta (Barcelona/Spain), Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid/Portugal), David Villa (Valencia-Barcelona/Spain) and the inaugural FIFA Ballon d'Or winner Lionel Messi (Barcelona/Argentina). 

Here is a review of their seasons in pictures.

Following Real Madrid's massive spending spree in the summer of 2009, many expected Real Madrid to not only win La Liga, but to also win the Champions League.

Unfortunately for Real, they were unable to beat out Barcelona in La Liga, and were stunned in the round of 16 in the Champions League by Lyon.

Now, Casillas' job was to captain a favored Spanish side to win their first ever World Cup in South Africa.

After a 1-0 loss to Switzerland to start off the World Cup, Casillas proved himself to be the best goalkeeper in the world by only conceding one more goal in the entire World Cup.

Thank in large part to what Casillas did, Spain won the World Cup over the Netherlands 1-0.

With the World Cup, Casillas joined a select group of players to have won all major club and national championship titles. 

To close out 2010, Casillas became the most capped goalkeeper in the history of the UEFA Champions League and continues to prove himself to be the best goalkeeper in the world.

Currently, Real Madrid find themselves in second place in La Liga, but Casillas will look to not only reclaim La Liga from Barcelona this season, but to also win the Champions League for the first time since 2002.

To start off 2010, Maicon was the right back on Inter Milan as they went on to become the first Italian club to complete the Italian treble of Serie A, the Coppa Italia and the Champions League.

Maicon also scored what proved to be the deciding goal in the semifinal tie between Barcelona and Inter.

In the World Cup, Maicon was able to supply Brazil with their first goal of the tournament against North Korea in the group stage.

After that, Maicon's Brazil were unable to achieve their lofty expectations of winning the World Cup, as the Brazilians were defeated by the Netherlands 2-1 in the quarterfinal.

To close out the season, Maicon stayed with Inter despite many rumors claiming that he would leave to go to Real Madrid alongside departing manager Jose Mourinho.

Now, Inter will need an amazing comeback in Serie A if they are to win their sixth consecutive league title.

To start off the year, Lucio played an integral part of Inter's treble winning side in his first year with the Nerazzurri.

Lucio also came up huge against Barcelona in the second leg of the Champions League semifinal, as Inter were able to dethrone the winners of the Champions League from 2009 and was able to defeat his old club Bayern Munich in the Champions League final.

At the World Cup, Lucio was the captain of the Brazilian squad that were unable to win their first World Cup since 2002.

Lucio played every minute for Brazil in the World Cup.

To close out the year, Lucio continued to play for Inter Milan as they were able to claim their first ever FIFA Club World Cup.

This is Lucio's first selection as a member of the FIFA World XI.

After playing a huge role the season before on Barcelona's sextuple winning team, Gerard Pique once again proved instrumental in Barcelona's La Liga success, as they won their second straight title.

However, despite Pique's goal in the second leg at the Camp Nou against Inter, Barcelona failed to win the Champions League again.

In the World Cup, Pique proved to be an extremely important piece of the Spanish squad that went on to win the World Cup.

Pique played every minute for Spain in the World Cup, and was huge as Spain only allowed two goals.

To close out the year, Pique continues to play a major role in Barcelona's defense as the Catalan side looks to win their third straight La Liga.

This is Pique's first selection as a member of the FIFA World XI.

To start off the year, Carles Puyol helped Barcelona to retain their La Liga title, but was unable to win the Champions League for a second straight year.

Despite Spain's struggle to open up the World Cup, Puyol was extremely influential for Spain as they won their first ever World Cup.

Puyol came up huge in the semifinal for Spain by scoring the only goal off a corner against Germany, and put together a fantastic performance in the final against the Dutch.

Currently in the middle of their La Liga campaign, Barcelona are leading the league thanks in large part to Puyol's impact in the back.

This is the third time that Puyol has been selected as a member of the FIFA World XI. Puyol was previously selected in both 2007 and 2008.

In the second half of his first season with Inter Milan after coming over from Real Madrid, Wesley Sneijder proved to be a hugely important piece to Inter's success.

Sneijder was able to play a major role as Inter completed the first ever Italian treble (including Inter's first Champions League title since 1965).

In the World Cup, Sneijder was able to take his game to another level as he was able to score five goals in the tournament.

Of those goals, Sneijder scored a winning goal for the Dutch three times.

In the tournament, Sneijder won the Silver Ball as the second best player of the tournament (behind Uruguay's Diego Forlan).

In the second half of 2010, Sneijder has already helped Inter win the FIFA Club World Cup.

Sneijder also controversially not selected as one of the three finalists for FIFA Ballon D'or.

And Sneijder won UEFA's Club Midfielder of the Year.

One of the best players in the history of FC Barcelona, Xavi helped Barcelona to win La Liga again.

However, Xavi was unable to help Barcelona to retain the Champions League title to Inter Milan.

In the World Cup, Xavi proved to be one of the greatest midfielders in history by leading the Spanish national team to their first ever World Cup title.

Xavi was also able to complete 599 passes out of 669 passes attempted over all of Spain's 7 games.

To close out the year, Xavi was shortlisted as one of the three players for the FIFA Ballon D'or. Xavi eventually finished third to Barcelona teammates Andres Iniesta and Lionel Messi.

This selection to the FIFA World XI is Xavi's third straight selection as one of the world's four best midfielders.

The first half of 2010 was one in which Andres Iniesta had very little impact for Barcelona.

Thanks in large part to Iniesta's injuries, Barcelona weren't able to defend their Champions League crown, but were able to win La Liga again.

After recovering from his injuries, Iniesta was able to feature for Spain in the World Cup.

In the World Cup, Iniesta scored two goals, including the winner in the final against the Dutch.

Iniesta was also named to the World Cup all star team.

In the second half of 2010, Iniesta was able to help Barcelona to first place in La Liga.

Iniesta was also shortlisted for the FIFA Ballon D'Or (alongside Barcelona teammates Xavi and Lionel Messi). Iniesta eventually finished in second place in the final vote. 

After coming to Real Madrid in a record transfer from Manchester United the season before, Cristiano Ronaldo was unable to produce to the expectations of silverware that was expected of him.

Despite a great year in La Liga statistically, Real Madrid were unable to win the league over Barcelona. And, Real were unable to win the Champions League, falling out in the round of 16 to Lyon.

In the World Cup, Ronaldo captained Portugal in what was considered to be the Group of Death against Brazil, the Ivory Coast and North Korea.

Ronaldo was able to score his only goal of the tournament against North Korea in Portugal's 7-0 drubbing of the Chollima. However, Portugal fell out in the round of 16 to eventual World Champion Spain.

Now, Ronaldo is trying to help Real Madrid win La Liga for the first time since 2008. 

This is Ronaldo's fourth straight selection to the FIFA World XI.

Considered by many to be the best striker in the world, David Villa played the first half of 2010 with Valencia.

After finishing third in the league with Valencia, Villa was transfered to Barcelona for a fee of €40 million.

In the World Cup, Villa proved to be one of Spain's best players by scoring five goals in the tournament for the eventual winners of the World Cup.

Altogether, Villa scored three game-winning goals for Spain, and was one of the most prominent players that helped Spain to rebound after a stunning opening loss.

Villa was named to the World Cup All Star Team and won the Bronze Ball.

Since he has joined Barcelona, Villa has been nothing short of spectacular for the Catalan side as they have absolutely dominated in all of the football competitions that they have participated in.

This is Villa's first ever selection to the FIFA World XI.

The winner of the FIFA World Player of the Year and the Ballon D'or in 2009, Lionel Messi was a major factor in Barcelona retaining their La Liga title.

However, Messi was unable to help Barcelona beat Inter to retain their Champions League title.

In the 2010 World Cup, much was expected of Messi and his Argentine squad that was managed by Diego Maradona.

Argentina went on to reach the quarterfinals where they got humiliated 4-0 by Germany.

Messi failed to score a goal in the World Cup.

To close out the year, Messi can truly be called the best footballer in the world after completing a season for the ages.

Altogether in 2010, Messi scored 61 goals and supplied countless assists to his teammates.

This is Messi's fourth straight selection  to the FIFA World XI.