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Picking a Best Atletico Madrid XI Using Only One Player of Each Nationality
- Updated: December 2, 2016
Atletico Madrid’s rise to prominence over this century has been built on some excellent players, and those names have been drawn from all four corners of the globe.
Although based in the Spanish capital, the club have had some excellent foreign stars down the years, with the Vicente Calderon often a hotbed of different cultures as players come together to speak the same language: football.
But what if we decided to limit the club to one player per nationality? Who’d make the cut? Well, we’ve tried to do just that here.
Criteria
So, 11 players—all drawn from the last 10 years at Atletico Madrid—in any formation, with the only stipulation being that they all have to come from different countries.
Who takes the Spanish slot? How many South Americans make the cut?
Here’s our attempt; feel free to give us yours in the comments section.
Goalkeeper: Jan Oblak, Slovenia
Try this with pretty much any other elite team and you won’t get many Slovenians.
Atletico Madrid’s current goalkeeper is a godsend for this selection, and he takes his place between the sticks thanks to both his nationality and his outstanding quality.
Oblak won the Ricardo Zamora trophy for La Liga’s best goalkeeper last season after conceding just 18 goals in 38 games.
Right-back: Tomas Ujfalusi, Czech Republic
A Czech checks in at right-back, where Tomas Ujfalusi’s rugged demeanour and tough exterior will come in handy.
The defender—who could also play at centre-back—was capped 78 times for the Czech Republic.
After joining Atletico on a free transfer in 2008, he proved to be more than good value for money, helping the team into the top four in his first season and playing a key role in the side which won the UEFA Europa League in 2010.
Centre-back: Diego Godin, Uruguay
One of the first names on any Atletico teamsheet even if we weren’t selecting this particular team, centre-back Diego Godin has established himself as one of the best in the world at what he does over the past decade.
The former Villarreal man was a key figure in the Atleti side that won the league title in 2014—scoring the crucial goal in the final game of the season at Barcelona—as well as reaching two Champions League finals in three years and scoring a goal in the first one.
Centre-back: …
