Squawka’s Xmas advent squad: which No.19 had the best 2018?

The countdown to Christmas is picking up serious pace with less than a week to go until the big day and so, Squawka’s advent calendar moves along another spot.

As we edge ever closer to Christmas Day, the excitement is becoming all the more real, and as part of the festive period, we here at Squawka have been creating an advent calendar, in which we compare players via the grouping of their shirt numbers and determining a top three for each across Europe.

While overall quality was obviously considered when ranking our top three players of the year, the deciding factors were how well they performed during the last 12 months, with notable weighting being given to the World Cup.

No. 1: Marc-André Ter Stegen
No. 2: Kyle Walker
No. 3: Giorgio Chiellini
No. 4: Virgil Van Dijk
No. 5: Raphael Varane
No. 6: Paul Pogba
No. 7: Kylian Mbappé
No. 8: Saúl Ñíguez
No. 9: Luis Suárez
No. 10: Lionel Messi
No. 11: Mohamed Salah
No. 12: Marcelo
No. 13: Alisson
No. 14: Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang
No. 15: Andrea Barzagli
No. 16: Manuel Akanji
No. 17: Kevin de Bruyne
No. 18: Jordi Alba

Here are Squawka’s top three number 19s for 2018.

3. Diego Costa (Atletico Madrid/Spain)

What makes him special? Diego Costa may not have had the best second half to the year, but the striker proved himself to be the man for the big occasions at Atletico last season.

Fresh from his move to Chelsea in January, Costa’s biggest influence at Atleti came in the Europa League, scoring two goals in five games en route to winning the trophy. But it isn’t just goals for the Spaniard as he bullied Arsenal in the semi-final second leg, giving the London side very little rest. Plus he also scored three goals at the World Cup including two against Portugal.

Key stat: No Spanish player attempted more shots (10) or scored more goals (3) at the 2018 World Cup than Diego Costa.

2. Nicolas Pepe (Lille/Ivory Coast)

What makes him special? Lille have been the surprise package of Ligue 1 this season, currently sitting second in the table. One of the main men behind that is Nicolas Pepe, who has been vital to Lille’s attacking play on the wing.

The Ivorian has directly contributed to 17 goals in Ligue 1 this season with 12 goals and five assists. And this form has been carried on from the second half of last season, with Pepe scoring nine goals post-January to add to four assists.

Key stat: Only Lionel Messi (14) has scored more goals in Europe’s top five leagues than Nicolas Pepe (12) this season.

1. Leroy Sane (Manchester City/Germany)

What makes him special? Leroy Sane may have been snubbed by Germany boss Joachim Low for the World Cup, but the 22-year-old has had an otherwise immense 2018. The exciting young winger helped Manchester City win the Premier League last season with four goals and seven assists. As a result, he was awarded the PFA’s Young Player of the Year award.

And it has continued into his campaign with a further seven assists and six goals as City are currently second. Continuing to develop under Pep Guardiola, the only way is up for Sane in 2019.

Key stat: No player has recorded more Premier League assists than Leroy Sane (14) in 2018.

Honourable mentions: 

Leonardo Bonucci (AC Milan/Juventus/Italy) , Mousa Dembélé (Tottenham/Belgium), Bernd Leno (Bayer Leverkusen/Arsenal/Germany), Alvaro Odriozola (Real Sociedad/Real Madrid/Spain), Rodrigo Moreno (Valencia/Spain)

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