Whereas Barcelona’s Argentine prodigy Lionel Messi has been crowned best midfielder in the world for 2009 in the FTBL ranking, Xavi, another Catalan among so many others this year, currently tops our ranking of European midfielders.
After a brief retreat in October-November during which his FTBL score dropped to 140 points, Xavi has returned to his previous level, pushing his tally beyond 200 points.
Yet he has not firmly secured the No.1 spot for 2009 and can still be overtaken by Chelsea’s Frank Lampard, who still has 2 games to play before yearend. But to do that, Lampard will have to pick up more than 40 points in our system in those 2 games. With the Blues stuttering at the moment (just 1 win in the last 5 matches), doing that could prove problematic. Whether or not coach Ancelotti’s men have put their “crisis” behind them will be clear in the Premier League game against No. 7 Birmingham City on Saturday. That’s also when a prognosis would have to be made as to Lampard’s chances of ending the year at the top.
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