Tag: Sergio Ramos

Champions League top scorers: Ronaldo out in front of Neymar & Kane

As Europe’s elite battle it out for team glory, individual players are engaged in a fight to come out on top as the best goalscorer

The 2017-18 Champions League has returned for the knock-out stage and the race to see who will finish as the tournament’s top goalscorer is back on.

Cristiano Ronaldo was last season’s top scorer with 12 goals as Real Madrid clinched their second Champions League title in a row and he narrowly edged out long-time rival Lionel Messi, who scored 11.

The likes of Paris Saint-Germain’s Edinson Cavani, Bayern Munich star Robert Lewandowski and the precocious Kylian Mbappe were also among the contenders last term.

Ronaldo currently leads the way with nine goals in six games, while Tottenham star Harry Kane is up into second place after taking his tally to seven with a goal against Juventus. In joint-third place are Paris Saint-Germain duo Neymar and Edinson Cavani, Liverpool’s Roberto Firmino and Sevilla’s Wissam Ben Yedder on six goals.

Interestingly, Messi is some way off the pace, scoring a relatively paltry three goals in six matches, so he will have to find his scoring boots in the knock-out stage if he is to stand a chance of taking the crown from his Real Madrid rival.

Champions League 2017-18 top goalscorers:

*Correct as of games played on February 14, 2018

Pos Player Club Goals
1 Cristiano Ronaldo Real Madrid 11
=2 Roberto Firmino  Liverpool 7
=2 Harry Kane  Tottenham 7
=4 Neymar PSG 6
=4 Edinson Cavani PSG 6
=4 Wissam Ben Yedder Sevilla 6
=4 Mohamed Salah  Liverpool 6
=4 Sadio Mane  Liverpool 6
=9 Philippe Coutinho Liverpool 5
=9 Vincent Aboubakar  Porto 5
=11 Kylian Mbappe  PSG 4
=11 Cenk Tosun  Besiktas 4
=11 Raheem Sterling  Manchester City 4
=11 Sergio Aguero  Manchester City 4
=11 Gonzalo Higuain  Juventus 4
=11 Dimitri Oberlin  Basel 4
=11 Anderson Talisca  Besiktas 4
=11 Romelu Lukaku Manchester United 4
=11 Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang Borussia Dortmund 4

Five Real Madrid players make UEFA Fans’ Team of the Year 2017, Neymar snubbed

European football’s governing body’s official website announced the group, assembled in a fantasy Team of the Year, drawing on 8.8 million votes from fans worldwide.

The team included five Real Madrid players, two Juventus players and one player from Barcelona, Chelsea, Manchester City and Paris Saint-Germain each.

Juventus legend Gianluigi Buffon was selected as the team’s goalkeeper, with his teammate Giorgio Chiellini in the center-back spot.

Real Madrid’s Sergio Ramos was chosen as the second center-back, along with his left-back teammate Marcelo.

PSG’s Dani Alves was selected by the fans for the right-back spot.

The team’s central midfielders included two more Real Madrid players, Toni Kroos and Luka Modric.

The wide midfielders were the only English Premier League representatives — Chelsea’s Eden Hazard and Manchester City’s Kevin de Bruyne.

As in previous years, Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi grabbed the two forward spots to round out the fantasy team.

Interestingly, Ronaldo was the only player to make it to the team from the top 10 most expensive players of all time.

PSG star Neymar — who joined the French giants this summer for a startling 222 million euros ($267 million) and became the world’s most expensive player ever — was missing from UEFA Fans’ Team of the Year yet again.

The country that cast the most votes for the team was India, with around 8 percent of the total votes, followed by Poland and Turkey with around 5 percent each.