This team would still compete against more or less anybody…
Once a player hits thirty – his value, his pace, and inevitably his form slowly but surely starts to decline. Players often have to reinvent themselves from flying wingers into deep-lying playmakers, or in some cases (see Dion Dublin) from pacey strikers into rock-solid centre-backs!
Here’s the Fanatix over-30 world XI – made from players who are supposedly ‘over the hill’:
Petr Cech nicks the keeper spot from Iker Casillas and Gianluigi Buffon, who have both enjoyed wonderful careers. If Casillas hadn’t been dropped for the latter half of the season, and Buffon hadn’t had such a nightmare at the Confederations Cup – either of them could have taken the Chelsea stopper’s place between the sticks.
Dani Alves and Ashley Cole were remarkable easy choices, and would probably walk into most regular world XIs. Phillip Lahm turns 30 in a few months times though, so we’ll see depending on how this season starts which fullback the German legend will be replacing!
Manchester United duo Rio Ferdinand and Nemanja Vidic fight off the challenge of Carlos Puyol and John Terry, who both suffered from limited minutes last season due to injury or poor form.
The midfield is when this fantasy team starts to look particularity impressive. The mercurial Andrea Pirlo, who is showing no signs of slowing down at 34-years-old, partners the brilliant 33-year-old Xavi in the centre. Thankfully for the pair, what they lack in dynamism, is more than made up for by the inclusion of Yaya Toure. The Ivorian still remains the engine room of Manchester City’s midfield.
Franck Ribery believes he should win the Ballon D’or this year, and after starring in a treble winning season with Bayern Munich – it would be hard to disagree with him. He will provide the service to Zlatan Ibrahimovic, who scored 30 league goals for PSG last year. David Villa plays from the right, as he has on multiple occasions for Barcelona and Spain. The legendary forward has scored 56 goals for his national side, and beats England captain Steven Gerrard to a more withdrawn role on the right hand side of this fantasy XI.
Fanatix recently compiled a fantasy world XI of players aged 21-and-under.
Who do you think would come out on top?
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