Barcelona’s Gerard Piqué (pictured in the far left) picked up approximately 20 rating points in our system as Spain defeated Estonia 3:0 at home in their World Cup 2010 qualifier yesterday to capture the top spot in the FTBL ranking of Spanish defenders, overtaking in the process his more experienced teammate Carles Puyol, who had topped that chart since Barcelona’s triumph in the Champions League last May.

Piqué now has an overall FTBL rating of 131.86 points and has also joined the top tier of our world ranking of defenders: he is in 3rd place right behind Chelsea’s John Terry (137.43 points) and Ashley Cole (133.34 points).

Villarreal’s Capdevila (pictured second from the right) also rose up the ranks to capture the 3rd spot in the FTBL ranking of Spanish defenders after netting 5.64 rating points in our system. He now has an overall FTBL rating of 120.47 points.