“THE BEST”
Well its official the world has spoken, the number one football player for the 2017/2018 season is… (Drum Role please) …Luka Modric!!! La “Bruja” who is both the number 10 for Real Madrid, and the 2018 World Cup runner up Croatia, has been crowned “The Best” which is FIFA’s official title for the best player of the season. Saying that the Croatian did not deserve the title is unfair. Many coaches, and top players have come out to say that Lionel Messi was the true winner of the title, due to him being the top scorer in Europe last season, winning both the Spanish league and cup titles, his skills, and his contributions to Barcelona during the season. However, failing to reach the Champions Leagues Semi-Finals, and Argentina losing to France in the last 16 of the world cup; resulted in him falling short of the top three players in the world for the first time in a decade. “The Best” is selected by the managers, and captains of every national team in the world, and fans who are registered in FIFA.com can vote for who they think was the number one player of the season. Although, this award has been under heavy speculation due to the fact that many critics, professional players , managers, and journalist agree that the award is not given to the best, or most successful individual player of the year. For many reasons this is true, the first one is that the award is usually biased towards offensive players, a second reason is the pressure that comes from sponsors, and a third an final reason is that the player with the highest stats should be the one crowned as the best, but is not. A counter argument for this point, would be that a player should not only be individually successful, but bring success to his team as well. In Modric’s case he was crucial in taking Real Madrid to winning the Champions league, the Club world cup, and helping Croatia reach the world cup Final. He was crowned the best player of Europe, the club world cup, and the world cup. He was without argument the most successful individual player in the 2017/2018 season.
Yet why do experts insist on Messi, well Leo is by far the most skilled player on any football field, and he had an amazing year. However, he only had success in Spain, and in main events like the Champions league and the world cup he had no such luck despite his great talent and effort. Both Cristiano Ronaldo, and Mohamed Salah who where voted into the top three, had lower stats than Messi, but made it farther into the Champions league, Ronaldo who ended up winning it for Real Madrid next to Luka Modric. Modric had success in every competition he played in, which gives him an overall success rate that is higher than any other player in Europe. “The Best” ends up going not to the player with the highest stats, but to the player who had the highest level of success throughout every competition he played in.
Liverpool Football Club
The “Reds” will be hoping to continue their success trend in the last few seasons, after world famous manager Jurgen Klopp joined the club three seasons ago. The German coach has brought back Liverpool to the top level, reaching both a Champions League Final, and a Europa League Final in the last couple of seasons. As well as, keeping Liverpool in the top 4 teams in the English Premier League for the last two years. Last season fans were treated to a Champions League final, and the famous “You will never walk alone” song, was sung by Liverpool fans in the stands of Cardiff the day of the final. However, luck would not be on their side as they fell to Real Madrid, thanks to a bicycle kick goal from Gareth Bale, and a couple of mistakes from the Liverpool keeper Karius. Despite last seasons disappointing loss to Madrid, Liverpool look as good or even better than last season. Their attacking trio, Mohamed Salah, Sadio Mane, and Roberto Firmino is the fastest counter attaching offense in Europe. Clearly one of the most dangerous sides in Europe, they are a challenge to any team. They recently opened up their Champions league season, beating french giant PSG. However, their problems lie in the defensive side of the field, which caused them problems last year; but if they can stay healthy and with improvements made during the summer; Liverpool can have serious chances off repeating their European success from last season.
ArepaFootball 