I wouldn't want to pretend that Barcelona were some kind of whiter than white team. A lot of the good will towards them was obviously a bi-product of Mourinho's arrival at Real. We all know Barcelona had a reputation for being as dirty as any other team in La Liga which would've most likely continued had Mourinho not made Real
so unlikeable that even their own players and board were complaining about it in the end.
But who now doesn't honestly miss the pure ugliness of those Mourinho/Pep-era Classicos? Not that they were ever as ugly as that shirt.
Also, some fairly respected journalists, Tor-Kristian Karlsen, Gabriele Marcotti and Philippe Auclair, have compiled a list ranking their 50 best players of 2014. No major surprises, although they acknowledge the recent form of players like Aguero and Sanchez means they should've probably been ranked higher than they were. Anyway, the list:
1. Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid)
2. Manuel Neuer (Bayern Munich)
3. Lionel Messi (Barcelona)
4. Philipp Lahm (Bayern Munich)
5. Thomas Müller (Bayern Munich)
6. Arjen Robben (Bayern Munich)
7. Diego Costa (Chelsea)
8. Luis Suŕrez (Barcelona)
9. Zlatan Ibrahimovic (Paris Saint-Germain)
10. Angel di Maria (Manchester United)
11. Thibaut Courtois (Chelsea)
12. Javier Mascherano (Barcelona)
13. Neymar (Barcelona)
14. James Rodriguez (Real Madrid)
15. Toni Kroos (Real Madrid)
16. Luka Modric (Real Madrid)
17. Gareth Bale (Real Madrid)
18. Alexis Sanchez (Arsenal)
19. Karim Benzema (Real Madrid)
20. Paul Pogba (Juventus)
21. Branislav Ivanovic (Chelsea)
22. Nemanja Matic (Chelsea)
23. Pablo Zabaleta (Man City)
24. Bastian Schweinsteiger (Bayern Munich)
25. Keylor Navas (Real Madrid)
26. Carlos Tevez (Juventus)
27. Ivan Rakitic (Barcelona)
28. David Alaba (Bayern Munich)
29. Eden Hazard (Chelsea)
30. Sergio Aguero (Man City)
31. Robert Lewandowski (Bayern Munich)
32. Andres Iniesta (Barcelona)
33. Yaya Toure (Man City)
34. Arturo Vidal (Juventus)
35. Mario Götze (Bayern Munich)
36. Diego Godin (Atlético Madrid)
37. Edin Dzeko (Man City)
38. Mats Hummels (Borussia Dortmund)
39. Hugo Lloris (Tottenham)
40. Raheem Sterling (Liverpool)
41. Leonardo Bonucci (Juventus)
42. André Schürrle (Chelsea)
43. Cesc Fabregas (Chelsea)
44. David de Gea (Man United)
45. Radja Nainggolan (AS Roma)
46. Vincent Kompany (Man City)
47. Vincent Enyeama (Lille)
48. Gianluigi Buffon (Juventus)
49. Carlos Bacca (Sevilla)
50. Frank Lampard (Man City)
Only two English players make the 50, depressing and IMO a bit unjust in terms of Rooney.
http://www.101greatgoals.com/blog/se...y-aston-villa/