UEFA Champions League 2016/17: Team of the Season - Do Messi and Ronaldo make the cut?

Who makes the cut and who misses out?

The UEFA Champions League came to an epic conclusion on Saturday night with Real Madrid becoming the first team in Champions League history to retain the prestigious title. Zinedine Zidane’s side outplayed Juventus on the night, which resulted in a 4-1 drubbing of the Turin giants.

Cristiano Ronaldo was, once again, the star of the show, as he scored twice, first to break the deadlock before Mario Mandzukic equalised with a goal for the ages. The Santiago Bernabeu outfit responded with Casemiro – whose strike from 35 yards took a wicked deflection to creep into the near post of Gianluigi Buffon. Ronaldo and Marco Asensio then added to the tally as the hearts of the Italians were broken, once again.

The win meant that Real Madrid now have 12 European titles under their belt, 5 more than any other team. We let the dust to settle on the victory so our team of the season is not guided by emotions but by reason and after some reflection have settled on these XI footballers.

So without further ado, here is the UEFA Champions League Team of the Season (Formation – 4-3-3):

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Goalkeeper: Gianluigi Buffon

Yes, he conceded 4 goals in the final. Yes, he couldn’t prove to be the hero on the night but the fact that Juventus were in the final was partly down to his heroics in the knockouts. Prior to the final, the legendary Italian had conceded only 3 goals in 11 appearances for the Old Lady in the Champions League – keeping 8 clean sheets in the process.

To add to that, he kept the fabled front-three of Barcelona at bay for 180 minutes. Who can claim that? To have stopped Messi, Suarez and Neymar, or for that matter any Barcelona player to score over 180 minutes of football? None that I can remember of, this season at least.

Buffon kept more clean sheets in the tournament that the number of goals that he conceded, if that didn’t merit an inclusion, then I don’t know what does. He did fail at the final hurdle for the third time but if he does end his career without a Champions League, you would have to wonder whose loss is it? Buffon’s or the prestigious competition’s?