There were more than seven million votes cast and the result saw the selection of five Barcelona players, three from Real Madrid, two from Bayern Munich and one from Juventus.
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Andres Iniesta and James Rodriguez flank Paul Pogba in midfield, before Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo are joined by Neymar in a trident attack.
The other 3 on the XI, 2 from Bundesliga Champion Bayern Munich’s; Goalkeeper Manual Neuer and Defender David Alba. It’s a record 10th appearance for Ronaldo in the dream team.
The influence of Champions League success seems to have been a major player in the voting as only the four semi-finalists from the 2014/15 campaign had representatives on the team.
As for who was left out, a case could be made for Barcelona’s forward Luis Suarez or Bayern Munich’s forward Robert Lewandowski, who were both stunning in 2015.
Barcelona’s Neymar, Real Madrid’s James Rodriguez and Juventus’ Paul Pogba made their debuts in this year’s team of the year as they took the all-time number of players to be selected to 74.
Ozil was in the team in 2013, but again, that was more for what he did in the white of Real Madrid than the red of Arsenal.
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Not a very surprising list, as each performed at a very high level a year ago.
