January 20 – UEFA stand accused of deliberately manipulating their team of the year award to accommodate Cristiano Ronaldo.
Last week European football’s governing body named their team, voted for by supporters, but changed the formation, which is normally 4-3-3, to a less orthodox 4-2-4 in order to make room for the Portugal and Real Madrid superstar after Lionel Messi, Sadio Mane and Robert Lewandowski were the three forward players with the most votes – with Ronaldo finishing fourth.
It appears the striker was chosen mainly on reputation, with Chelsea’s N’Golo Kante the player to miss out, despite being the midfielder receiving the third most votes.
“Ronaldo’s popularity is so great at UEFA that alarms sounded when they saw the results,” a source told the Daily Mail newspaper. “For that reason, they changed the XI.”
With Portugal having won UEFA’s inaugural Nations League, A UEFA spokesperson was quoted as saying: “The formation was chosen to reflect the votes of fans as well as the achievements of players in UEFA competitions.”
“As a result, there are five Champions League winners and four finalists from the Nations League, including one winner. It changes regularly and this year is no exception.”
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