Real Madrid’s Brazilian superstar Kaká (pictured hugging a teammate) engineered a return in the top echelon of the FTBL World Ranking of midfielders as he helped the Merengues trash French side Olympique Marseille 3:0 in their Champions League group stage game yesterday at the Bernabeu.

The Brazil international scored the second of his side’s three goals from the penalty spot, earning 12.13 rating points in the process to boost his overall FTBL rating to 143.65 points. He is now in 7th place in our world ranking.

Kaká’s upward movement is coming at the expense of Liverpool’s Israeli international Yossi Benayoun who now has an overall FTBL rating of 135.66 points after dropping a whopping 29 rating points in the Reds’ 2:0 shock defeat to Fiorentina in Champions League action last Tuesday.