Storyline: I generally agree with the picks, but here are my choices. Written by Prateek Kansal, Delhi, India
Last November UEFA (Union of European Football Associations) released its ultimate team, post-2000. The starting line up has a few surprises, including Gerrard ahead of Zidane and Carles Puyol in place of Maldini or Vidic.
Courtesy: news.ugo.co.ug
It was heartening to see Thierry Henry getting a place among all-time greats. The fact that he played for Barcelona might have helped as players on title-winning teams often have an advantage. From 2000-16 Barcelona won consistently, followed by Real Madrid, Bayern Munich, AC Milan. Xavi, Iniesta, and Puyol have the most titles, along with Messi, which is probably the reason why Puyol was picked above others.
The mid-field selections threw a couple of surprises, but the competition was the fiercest there. In my opinion the Zidane-Gerrard-Iniesta mid-field looks best. At his peak, Gerrard was the best box-to-box midfielder in Europe. Notable mid-field absentees are Paul Scholes, Xabi Alonso, Andrea Pirlo and Michael Ballack.
The defense is very solid, as it should be. But I would like to replace Carles Puyol with Sergio Ramos and put Roberto Carlos at Left Back with Phillip Lahm at Right Back.
My final squad would look like this:
Ronaldo-Henry-Messi
Zidane-Gerrard-Iniesta
Carlos-Ramos-Nesta-Lahm
Casillas.
