Even though Real Madrid have a squad filled with the absolute best players in the world, it still feels like the international media does not pay them enough respect, given how biased everything in the United Kingdom and even the United States (maybe even especially the United States, at this point) is towards the Premier League.
ESPN FC are probably the worst offenders in terms of terrible football takes that insult everyone's intelligence and feed into the Premier League bias, even though they do not and will never own the rights to the biggest league in the world (because their current football coverage is that woeful), but they really outdid themselves with their ESPN FC 100. For those of you who follow American football, imagine the NFL Network's top 100 list except with zero credibility and ranked by people who don't even know who Michael Laudrup was.
Real Madrid got absolutely hosed in the ESPN rankings, and the worst ranks were those given to Thibaut Courtios, Jude Bellingham, and, the most blatant of them all, Vinicius Junior.
Vinicius Junior needs some respect on his name
ESPN apparently thinks that Bruno Fernandes is teh best attacking midfielder in the world and Jude Bellingham is only second. They are probably doing that because Bruno plays in the Premier League and had 21 assists, but it's easy to pad stats against weak opponents and then not show up at all at the World Cup. How can the worst big name of anyone at the entire World Cup be ranked the best player in the world as a No. 10? And how does ESPN not realize that a modern No. 10 has to be able to defend, progress the ball, and do other things to help the team besides pad stats?
Arguably, David Raya over Thibaut Courtois was even worse. Raya is a great goalkeeper, but there's a reason why he doesn't start for his own national team. He is rapidly becoming one of the most overrated players in the world, and he takes a lot of credit for the work the midfield and defense does to keep the ball so he barely faces tough shots - and his save percentage wasn't even at 70. Meanwhile, Courtois has been consistently above 70 for years and gets no help from his midfield or defense.
Now, Vinicius Junior is the worst ranking of them all. Among wingers, he was ranked sixth. They even ranked him behind Lionel Messi, who doesn't even play in Europe and isn't even an actual winger at this stage of his career. They also ranked him behind Khvicha Kvarastekhelia, whose best seasons are worse statistically than Vini's worst season - and he wasn't even good for PSG last season either. Luis Diaz and Michael Olise had great years for Bayern Munich, but one great season is not enough to say that they are better than Vini, who has been at the highest level for five. Insanity.
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