Leo Messi, Andrés Iniesta, Xavi Hernández and Gerard Piqué were named to UEFA’s all star team. UEFA’s XI was selected by the public through popular vote. A total of 5.3 million votes were cast by 500,000 people. Apart from the four FC Barcelona players, there are four Real Madrid players (Casillas, Ramos, Özil and Ronaldo) in addition to Philipp Lahm (Bayern), Thiago Silva (Milan/Paris Saint-Germain) and Andrea Pirlo (Juventus).
Repeat all stars
This is the third consecutive year that Leo Messi, Andrés Iniesta, Xavi Hernández and Gerard Piqué have been named to the team. Of the four, the players that have been selected the most are Xavi Hernández and Leo Messi, both with five appearances apiece. Iniesta has been named to the team four times, while Piqué has been on the all star team three times.
Recordman Puyol
The player that has featured the most on UEFA’s all star team is the captain Carles Puyol. The Catalan has been named to the team six times. The first time was in 2002 and the most recent was in 2010. The first Barça player to be included in UEFA’s XI was the Swede Patrick Andersson (2001), while Ronaldinho (2004, 2005, 2006), Samuel Eto’o (2005, 2006), David Villa (2010) and Dani Alves (2009, 2011) have also been nominated to be on the team.
