UEFA has announced its all-time Champions League XI – with Liverpool legend Steven Gerrard the only Englishman in the team.
European football bosses have compiled an ‘Ultimate XI’ from the players who have made the fans’ Team of the Year the most times since the vote began in 2001.
The team has been revealed as UEFA.com prepares to announce the nominees for the 2019 Team of the Year.
The team of course features five-times winner Cristiano Ronaldo , who lifted the European Cup four times with Real Madrid and once with Manchester United .
His former Real Madrid team-mates Sergio Ramos and Iker Casillas are also in the team – but Los Blancos lose out to Barcelona overall.
There are five current or former Nou Camp stars in the selection, with four-times Barcelona winners Lionel Messi, Andreas Iniesta and Xavi joined by Gerard Pique (who won it once with United and three times with the Catalans) and Carles Puyol.
The only English player in the team is Liverpool legend Steven Gerrard, who helped inspire the Reds’ remarkable comeback from 3-0 down to win the 2005 Champions League final on penalties against AC Milan in Istanbul.
There is another former Premier League star in the XI, however, as ex-Arsenal ace Thierry Henry makes up a star-studded forward line along with Messi and Ronaldo.
Ronaldo has been selected in the team of the Year a record 13 times, with Messi behind him on 10 selections, while Henry was selected five times including in the first four teams consecutively.
Casillas is in goal thanks to six selections in the Team of the Year, while Ramos is the most selected defender with eight. He is joined at the back by Pique (five), Puyol (six) and Bayern Munich and ex-Bayern Munich left-back Philipp Lahm (five).
Gerrard, picked three times, is joined in midfield by Barcelona legends Iniesta (six times) and Xavi (five).
Uefa.com Ultimate Fans Team of the Year: Casillas; Ramos, Pique, Puyol, Lahm; Gerrard, Xavi, Iniesta; Ronaldo, Messi Henry.
