Xavi and Mesut Ozil are the surprise inclusions on
a Real Madrid and Juventus dominated 15-man
midfield shortlist for the Fifa FIFPro World
XI, Goal reports. The pair have endured an inconsistent last 12
months for club and country but still received
plenty of nominations from their fellow
professionals. Goal reports that Arturo Vidal, Andrea Pirlo and
Paul Poga represent the Juventus contingent, while
Toni Kroos, James Rodriguez and Luka Modric are
the Madrid players on the list. Bayern Munich (Xabi Alonso, Bastian
Schweinsteiger), Barcelona (Xavi, Andres Iniesta)
and Chelsea (Cesc Fabregas, Eden Hazard) all
have two representatives, while Manchester United
(Angel Di Maria), Manchester City (Yaya Toure)
and Arsenal (Ozil) all have one candidate. The Fifa FIFPro World XI is decided by the
players and involves votes from tens of thousands
footballers worldwide. Xavi, Iniesta and Franck Ribery were last year’s
World XI midfielders. Pirlo is the only midfielder to appear on all 10
shortlists since the introduction of the World XI in
2005. He joins goalkeeper and Juventus team-mate
Gianluigi Buffon as the second player with 10
nominations. FULL LIST: Xabi Alonso (Spain, Bayern Munich)
Angel Di Maria (Argentina, Manchester United)
Cesc Fabregas (Spain, Chelsea) Eden Hazard
(Belgium, Chelsea) Xavi Hernandez (Spain,
Barcelona) Andres Iniesta (Spain, Barcelona) Toni
Kroos (Germany, Real Madrid) Luka Modric (Croatia, Real Madrid) Mesut Ozil (Germany,
Arsenal) Andrea Pirlo (Italy, Juventus) Paul
Pogba (France, Juventus) James Rodriguez
(Colombia, Real Madrid) Bastian Schweinsteiger
(Germany, Bayern Munich) Yaya Toure (Ivory
Coast, Manchester City) Arturo Vidal (Chile, Juventus)

Legendary Pirlo. that man is like wine,GETS BETTER WITH AGE.