Germany international Mesut Ozil (pictured) captured the lead in the FTBL world ranking of U-21 midfielders as he helped Werder Bremen to a 2:0 home win over 1899 Hoffenheim in Bundesliga action yesterday.

For playing the entire game without substitution, Ozil was awarded 12.16 rating points in our system, taking his tally to 110.79 points, the highest of any midfielder under 21 years of age at the moment, but only the 24th highest in the world among all midfielders.

Ozil now has a higher FTBL rating than such famous rivals as Manchester United’s and Arsenal’s Brazilians Anderson (82.98 points) and Denilson (87.15 points), as well as Real Madrid’s Argentine Ganzalo Higuain (97.34 points).