Manchester United defender Raphael Varane has been named in the CIES Football Observatory’s team of the tournament for this year’s World Cup.
France have reached the final with Raphael Varane playing a key role in the heart of defence and it doesn’t come as a surprise that they made up the bulk of the CIES squad along with fellow finalists Argentina.
Varane was one of 16 Manchester United players that were present at the World Cup in Qatar, but he was also one of five defenders selected by CIES ahead of Sunday’s big game.
It also features four Moroccan players and two from Croatia after both nations reached the semi-finals.
The Best XVIII #FIFAWorldCup2022 players according to @CIES_Football research team 🤩 with only semi-finalists 7⃣ 🇫🇷 5⃣ 🇦🇷 4⃣ 🇲🇦 2⃣ 🇭🇷 Who's missing ❓ Technical profiles of all players in the big-5 👉 https://t.co/ps1OLi7jyf pic.twitter.com/Yzf9x3ouiX
— CIES Football Obs (@CIES_Football) December 15, 2022
CIES Football Observatory TOTT: Hugo Lloris; Achraf Hakimi, Raphael Varane, Nicolas Otamendi, Josko Gvardiol, Theo Hernandez; Azzedine Ounahi, Enzo Fernandez, Aurelien, Tchouameni, Luka Modric, Hakim Ziyach, Antoine Griezmann, Alexis McAllister, Sofiane Boufal; Lionel Messi, Olivier Giroud, Julian Alvarez, Kylian Mbappe.
Manchester United fans will be looking forward to getting Varane back fit. He missed a lot of football before the World Cup and it’s crucial for Erik ten Hag to have him available.
Let us know in the comments section if you think CIES left out any star performers from their list.
