Marcelo? Marcelo, really? The Brazilian left-back from Real Madrid?

We probably weren't the only ones to react like that when FIFA announced their FIFPro Men's World11 during their annual awards ceremony, this time held in Milan.

The final team went as follows: Alisson Becker, Sergio Ramos, Matthijs de Ligt, Marcelo, Virgil van Dijk, Eden Hazard, Luka Modric, Cristiano Ronaldo, Frenkie de Jong, Lionel Messi and Kylian Mbappe.

It certainly seems strange that so many Real Madrid players have made the cut after failing to win the La Liga crown or Copa del Rey and relinquishing their Champions League title.

We can give Hazard a free pass because he earned the right with his Chelsea performances, but the inclusions of Ramos and Modric are suspect to say the very least.

Marcelo makes FIFA World XI

However, none of those decisions come close to the decision to choose Marcelo who, despite being a top left-back without doubt, simply wasn't the best in business last season.

As Marca pointed out, you could argue that Nicolas Tagliafico, Jordi Alba, Alejandro Grimaldo and Lucas Digne all had a better year than the Brazilian playing from the same position.

But what makes the situation so unjust is two words: Andrew Robertson.

Robertson should have been picked

It seems pretty uncontroversial to proclaim the Liverpool man as the world's best left-back, yet that isn't enough to be named as the left-back in the world's best XI? It doesn't make sense.

First and foremost, the Scot has won the Champions League and UEFA Super Cup this year as well as playing an integral role in the third-highest Premier League points tally in history.

Meanwhile, the only trophy that Marcelo had to his name last season was the FIFA Club World Cup where their opposition was merely Kashima Antlers and Al-Ain. 

Ok, sure, but what about the individual statistics? First and foremost, Robertson kept 21 clean sheets in the league last season compared to Marcelo's pitiful tally of four.

Even when you play more into Marcelo's hands and look at offensive stats, there's simply no contest as his Scottish rival gave him a lesson in assists with a 12-2 scoreline in 2018-19. 

And despite playing 12 fewer league games (another X next to Marcelo's name), the Real Madrid man had a poorer disciplinary record with six yellow cards as opposed to four.

We could go on and on, but it just seems that voters found it voguer to vote for Marcelo, who has become something of a regular fixture in these annual XI's.

The 31-year-old deserved all those individual awards in the past, there's no doubting it, but his fellow professionals should have given the nod to none other than Robertson this year.