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Michaelf7777777........................................................................................................Pat_Mustard & Jim Beam
..........VS...........
Team Michaelf7777777 (G. Popescu dropped for A. Zubizarreta)
My team will play a 4-2-3-1 formation with 4 players whom I would strongly consider for a first round pick in this draft in Bochini, Goncalves, Leandro and Charles (with Bulgarelli being good enough for this status in terms of quality but he is not as well known).
My Goalkeeper is Andoni Zubizarreta who was efficient and great at positioning and one of the best keepers in the history of both Spain and Barcelona. Zubizarreta won the Don Balon award in 1987 as the best Spanish player in La Liga (for context 1987 was the year in which Ruud Gullit claimed that Rafael Gordillo, a Spainard who played for Real Madrid should have won the Ballon d'Or instead of him).
My Rightback is Leandro who was a great allround rightback being a great allround attacking player and running as much if not more than anyone else in the 1982 Brazil team while defensively being good enough later in his career to make the Brazil national team as a centreback and was one of the best 2 centrebacks in the Campeonato Brasileiro in 1985. My first centreback is Carlos Gamarra who was named as the best defender in CONMEBOL in 1998 (a year in which he was also included in the FIFA World Cup All Star team). He will be partnered by Murtaz Khurtsilava who finished second in the Soviet Footballer of the Year award (voted on by journalists) in both 1967 and 1968 and in his position in the Soviet league he was judged (by the Presidum of the Football Federation with the approval of the National Coaches Council) the best player in 5 seasons (68, 69, 71, 72, 73), the second best twice (65, 66) and third best twice (63, 70) with an additional top 3 finish in 67 when the top 3 were not ordered although he was the best placed defender in the Soviet Footballer of the Year award that year. My leftback who was two footed, quick, good going forward (being one of only 3 British players to have scored in two European cup finals along with Neal and Bale) and a good tackler.
My defensive midfielder is Nestor Goncalves who was very similar to his predecessor, for both club and country, Obdulio Varela, Goncalves was great defensively, was very tactically aware, extremely tough and also had a superb passing range to help start attacks from deep. My box to box midfielder is Giacomo Bulgarelli who according to Fabio Capello in 2009 was the greatest Italian midfielder ever and according to Sergio Campana (a teammate at Bologna and President of the Italian Footballers Association for more than 40 years) had the skills of both Gianni Rivera and Sandro Mazzola. My attacking midfielder is Ricardo Bochini who won the Footballer of the Year for Argentina in 1983 and finished third in the South American Footballer of the Year award in 1984 as well as being included in the South American Team of the Year in 1989 and being Maradona's idol. Bochini was a great passer and dribbler as well as being an expert at timing passes to leave forwards one-on-one with the goalkeeper.
On the right hand side of my front three is Mohamed Salah who has scored 94 goals in 152 games in his 3 years at Liverpool being premier league golden boot twice as well as being voted the best player in England in the 2017-18 season by fans, journalists and players. My striker is John Charles who was the top scorer in the first division in England and Serie A in Italy in successive seasons as well as finishing third in the 1959 Ballon d'Or. In 1997, Juventus fans voted him the greatest foreign player in their history and Jack Charlton also considered him the most effective player that he had ever seen. On the left hand side of my front 3 is Lennart Skoglund who in 2017 was voted the greatest player to come from Stockholm in the previous 100 years. Skoglund played as both an inside left and a left winger and was known for his skills at dribbling, reading the game, set pieces and shooting.
Team Pat_Mustard & Jim Beam (O. Bergmar dropped for B. Boli)
Formation: Attacking 4-2-3-1 with a moderate-high line.
Tactics: all in, you wanted you'll get it
Wounded by criticism that they lined up too defensively in their last match, the Inglorious Mustards react with fury by dropping a defender and going hari-kari. TAA, Koeman and Marcelo have all excelled in proactive, match-controlling formations, and big bad Basile Boli was drafted precisely for his proficiency in defending against an aerially-dominant monster like John Charles - he rose above Frank Rijkaard from a corner to win the European Cup for Marseille while keeping Marco van Basten shackled through the 1993 CL final.
Liedholm - Kubala - Enzo - Sosa - Larsson it is.
Good luck @Michaelf7777777 @Pat_Mustard @Jim Beam!