Many international football fans and supporters decided that the top 5 football players of January and of this year so far come from three different leagues with La Liga as the prevailing one. The list was compiled according to the independent fans voting FootballTop.com.
FIFTH place of that list takes a glorious player and one of the best goalkeepers of the century, Gianluigi Buffon.
His actions were evaluated this year according to an increasing level of stability of Gianluigi, the captain of Juventus for many years, who was one of those to bring Juve to their current position never conceding more than one goal in a Serie A match except for the recent game against Sampdoria where Juve suffered a 1-2 away loss.
Stability of the keeper was confirmed by a new one year deal that Buffon signed with his club.
FOURTH place goes to Steven Gerrard, another leader, another irreplaceable man in his club.
Gerrard, aged 33, is still capable of delivering world class football. Gerrard isn’t already as fast and as he was during the Champions League final in Istanbul, he can’t play all possible and impossible positions on the field performing as a forward in one game and a flank defender in the next one as he did before.
In spite of that he decided to settle in defensive midfield in Brendan Rodgers’s tactical schemes to play on showing his best abilities splendidly assisting his teammates and fooling the defenders of the rivals.
THIRD place is taken by Iker Casillas, another one goalkeeper and captain that can’t be ever replaced by any other top footballer.
Yes, Jose Mourinho, this man can’t be substituted by any other world class goalkeeper be it Buffon or Cech because Iker Casillas=Real Madrid, and Real Madrid=Iker Casillas.
The statistics shows: owing to this very man Real Madrid conceded only one goal in past 5 games. The sad moment in Iker’s career is his recent injury. He broke an arm in a recent game against Valencia which required surgery.
The injury makes Iker miss the Copa del Rey semi-finals clash against Barcelona and the Champions League 1/8 finals fixture against Manchester United which signboard seems to have lost a pinch of its glance without Real Madrid’s captain.
This month Lionel Messi comes SECOND.
Regardless of the fact that Barcelona is top of La Liga the closes chasers are within an enormous distance away from the Catalan club both on the league table and in the quality of play Messi was still brilliant but not as brilliant as Ronaldo.
The effect of the fourth Ballon d’Or award makes itself felt when you understand that everything is accomplished and you can relax a bit and remain the second for just a while. Barcelona has a sensible advantage over Atlético Madrid and there is some time to relax and prepare for the Champions League challenge.
And finally, FIRST place goes to Cristiano Ronaldo who is and has always been outstanding.
Fast runner, stunning dribbler, splendid finisher, marvelous diver (who said that diving isn’t a profession?) - this player is good at everything.
But this month was exceptional for one reason. Cristiano has officially proved that he is a key element of Real Madrid’s striking force and that without his talent Mourinho’s attacking machine does not work properly.
A clear evidence of that fact was a game against Osasuna where Mourinho decided not to place Cristiano in the starting line-up and this move resulted in a boring 0-0 draw at Osasuna.
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