Barcelona sensation surprisingly overlooked by UEFA for Team of the Week despite MOTM display | OneFootball

Barcelona forward Lamine Yamal played a crucial role in his team’s 3-2 victory over Borussia Dortmund in the UEFA Champions League, providing an assist despite not scoring.

This brought his total to two assists in the competition, a notable achievement for the young star.

However, despite his being named the Man of the Match, Yamal was surprisingly left out of UEFA’s Champions League Team of the Week.

Instead, UEFA’s technical observers chose to highlight the attacking trio of Igor Paixao from Feyenoord, Antoine Griezmann from Atletico Madrid, and Bukayo Saka from Arsenal.

While these players all had strong performances, one can’t help but wonder if UEFA places more value on goals than other contributions to the game.

Barcelona’s bad luck with UCL TOTW

It is worth noting that even when Yamal scored a goal in a previous match, he wasn’t included in the Team of the Week, raising questions about the selection criteria.

Barcelona’s representation in the Champions League Team of the Week has been quite limited. Out of the six matchdays played so far, the Blaugrana have only had players featured on three occasions.

Raphinha made the cut twice (on matchdays 2 and 3), while Pau Cubarsi appeared once (on matchday 5).

This lack of recognition has sparked some irony among fans, especially considering that Yamal has been involved in key moments, scoring a goal and providing two assists in the group stage.

Looking at the Team of the Week for this round, Saka’s inclusion was likely due to his remarkable performance, scoring twice and providing an assist in Arsenal’s 3-0 win over Monaco.

Griezmann, who also scored two goals, and Paixao, who netted one, further strengthened their cases for inclusion.

Despite his contributions, Yamal was not selected, and no Barcelona player featured in the team this week. This highlights the ongoing debate about what criteria are used to determine the best players of the week in such prestigious tournaments.