UEFA named their Team of the Year for 2020 on Wednesday morning.

It's fair to say there was plenty of drama across the Champions League and Europa League last year, so there was no shortage of players competing to be named in the continent's best XI.

Besides, there's hardly a player in the Bayern Munich squad without an outside shot at the line-up with the Bavarians having won all their games in Europe on the way to winning 'Big Ears'.

UEFA Team of the Year

But there were also top performers from Premier League champions Liverpool, Spanish conquerors Real Madrid and Kevin De Bruyne was even flying the flag for Manchester City against the odds.

And while the selections for the FIFA FIFPro World XI might have caused controversy, there could be no such qualms with UEFA's selection because they called upon the fans themselves to choose.

In fact, UEFA revealed that almost six million supporters cast their opinion on their best XI of 2020, making for one of the most substantiated Team of the Year awards we've ever seen.

Fans make their selection

However, we'd be naive to act as though the fans always get things right, particularly when it comes to certain fanbases voting against their actual opinion in order to back their club's players.

Besides, Match of the Day learned their lesson of putting it all on the fans when Jack Wilshere's semi-decent strike against West Brom was voted Goal of the Season after Gooners hijacked the poll.

But to be fair, we're inclined to think the football fans of Europe have pretty much nailed their choices here, so be sure to check out the XI in all its majesty down below. 

So, to recap, they've gone for: Manuel Neuer, Joshua Kimmich, Virgil van Dijk, Sergio Ramos, Alphonso Davies, Thiago Alcantara, Kevin De Bruyne, Neymar, Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo and Robert Lewandowski.

It makes for a surprisingly low turnout for Liverpool players with only Thiago and Van Dijk, who are valued at £72 million and £43.20 million respectively, forcing their way into the final selection.

Should Messi have been picked?

And it's fair to say the fans have gone for something of an attacking approach, meaning that UEFA's Team of the Year cuts a different appearance to its competitors, largely in the midfield.

Trent Alexander-Arnold can probably feel miffed not to have been given the nod at right-back because Kimmich delivered many of his finest 2020 performances playing in midfield. 

And to be honest, I'd be inclined to swap out Messi in order to make that switcheroo possible, particularly given that this is a UEFA XI we're talking about,

Considering Messi's European endeavours ended with an 8-2 thrashing against Bayern last season, not to mention some lukewarm individual displays, he's probably been a little overrated here.

Then again, why should we be surprised? Messi is rightfully revered as one of the greatest players of all time, so no wonder his legions of fans backed him all the way in UEFA's big vote.