Real Madrid dominate UEFA fans' team of 2017; PSG's Neymar misses out

Published on: 11 January 2018

ESPN FC's Sid Lowe believes Real Madrid's inability to achieve results in La Liga is taking a mental toll on the players. ESPN FC's Sid Lowe reveals the three people he feels are most responsible for leading Barcelona to a nine-point lead in La Liga. Who had the most goals, assists, saves, passes and tackles in world football during 2017? The ESPN FC panel engage in a heated debate about whether 2017 belonged to Cristiano Ronaldo, Mohamed Salah or Harry Kane. From the best transfer video campaign to the worst miss of year, we look back on the cream of the crop from social media in 2017.

Real Madrid dominate UEFA's Fans' Team of the Year 2017 with five players in the XI but there is no space for Neymar despite the Paris Saint-Germain forward's status as the world's most expensive player.

Madrid became the first club to retain the European Cup in the Champions League era in June of last year when they beat Juventus 4-1 in Cardiff. A poll of users on UEFA.com picked Cristiano Ronaldo, Sergio Ramos, Luka Modric, Toni Kroos and Marcelo among the best players of last year.

Italian champions Juve -- beaten finalists for a second time in three years -- are represented by veteran goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon and defender Giorgio Chiellini.

Lionel Messi is the sole representative of Barcelona. His former teammate Dani Alves is also selected, but Neymar -- who left Barcelona for PSG in a world-record €222 million move in the summer -- was not among the names to make the cut following almost 8.8 million votes being cast.

Neymar's move was sparked in part because of his man-of-the-match display in Barca's stunning 6-1 win over PSG in the second leg of their Champions League round-of-16 tie, which the French began with a 4-0 aggregate lead.

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