Here are Champions League stars 10 years ago, but Where are they

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After a successful domestic and Continental footballing season across all of  Europe in 2008, the European best team of the year was consisted of: Cassie; Ramos, Terry, Puyol, Ram; Harvey, Fabregas; Ronaldo, Messi, Ribéry; Torres.

They were the best in Europe 10 years ago, how is it going now?

It may sound like a short while but it has been exactly ten years since Chelsea and Manchester United faced each other in the Champions League final in Moscow back in May 2008. Though Messi and Ronaldo are still considered the two best players in the World to date, a lot has changed for the other inclusions to the UEFA Team of the year then. Are they still playing? Who is retired? Have they switched  clubs? Below we take a look.

Fernando Torres

They were the best in Europe 10 years ago, how is it going now?

 

Torres moved from Atletico Madrid to Liverpool in of 2007/2008, scoring 33 goals in 46 appearances in his debut season. That Sumeer he scored the winning goals as  Spain beat Germany 1-0 to win the European Cup. He moved to London Club Chelsea in 2011 and famously scored a late goal at the Camp Nou to help Chelsea beat Barcelona over two ties in the Champions League semi final. He later moved to his parent Club Atletico Madrid where he reached another Champions League final but lost to Real Madrid on penalties. This summer, Torres announced that he will join Tori Shayan, a side that plays in the Japanese J League.

Cristiano Ronaldo

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2008 may be the best year for the Portuguese international in his Manchester United career. In the 07-08 season, Cristiano Ronaldo scored 42 goals in  49 games to aid the red devils to a  Premier League and the Champions League double.He was also awarded the Ballon D’Or for the first time that summer. Ronaldo joined Real Madrid in 2009, where he became the record goalscorer en route to winning two La Liga titles and four Champions League crowns. With Portugal, Ronaldo won the EURO championship in 2016 beating France 1-0 in the final. This summer, Cristiano Ronaldo moved to Serie A giants Juventus in a deal worth 130 Million Euros at the age of 33 years.

Messi

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In  2007-08, Messi scored 16 goals for Barcelona in 40 appearances. The following year, Messi finally announced his entry into super-stardom by leading Barcelona to their first Treble ending the season with a Champions League clinching header against Ronaldo’s Manchestwer united in Rome. He won his first Ballon D’Or that year and now holds a record-tying five Ballon d’Or awards, a record he holds with Cristiano Ronaldo.  Both a prolific goalscorer and a creative playmaker, Messi holds the records for most official goals scored in La Liga (383), a La Liga season (50), a club football season in Europe (73), a calendar year (91), El Clásico (26), as well as those for most assists in La Liga (149) and the Copa América (11). He has scored over 600 senior career goals for club and country. In 2010 he led Argentina into the FIFA World Cup finals where they lost 1-0 to Germany.

Ribéry

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Ribéry scored 19 goals for Bayern’s appearance 19 times to help the team win the Bundesliga championship in 2007-2008. In his ten years at the same club since, Ribéry has won countless championships.With Bayern, he has won eight Bundesliga titles, five DFB-Pokal, one UEFA Champions League and one FIFA Club World Cup, which include four doubles and one treble. His form for Bayern in the club’s 2012–13 treble winning season saw him nominated alongside Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo on the three-man shortlist for the 2013 FIFA Ballon d’Or. Though now in his final years, He scored 6 goals and 5 assists in 34 appearances last season.

Xavi Hernandez

They were the best in Europe 10 years ago, how is it going now?

In the 2008 European Championship champion, Xavi conquered the fans with his outstanding leadership skills and passing range as he led Spain to win the tournament. Xavi came through La Masia, the Barcelona youth academy, at age 11 and made his first-team debut against Mallorca in August 1998. Since then, he has played 700 matches, scored 82 goals and made more than 180 assists for over 50 players. Xavi is the first player in Barcelona’s history to play 150 international matches. Highly regarded for his humble persona and team ethos, Xavi is viewed as being the embodiment of the tiki-taka passing style of play, and is widely considered to be one of the greatest central midfielders of all time.

He is also considered by many to be the greatest Spanish player ever. On 5 August 2014, following the 2014 World Cup where Spain were eliminated at the group stage, Xavi announced his retirement from international football, having made 133 appearances in a 14-year period. Spain’s World Cup-winning manager Vicente del Bosque paid tribute, stating that Xavi was “a key part of the team’s style of play” and “he was more important to us than even the manager”, also adding, “We will miss him both on and off the pitch. He is a player who we hold in great esteem both personally and as a player. He is and always will be a person and a player who is greatly valued by the federation, the coaching staff and by myself.

Fabregas

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A member of the 2008 European Championship, he played for Arsenal in the 07-08 season and scored 13 goals in 45 games. He was a member of the Spanish World Cup winning team in 2010 and provided the assist for Iniesta’s final winning goal. He left for Barcelona where he won a league title but was later transferred to Chelsea where he has won one two League titles and an FA Cup.

Sergio Ramos

They were the best in Europe 10 years ago, how is it going now?

A 2008 Euro Champion with Spain, Ramos is the current Real Madrid Captain.  He has won the World cup with Spian as well as the European Championship in 2012. Ramos has been the rock to the Real MAdrid team that has won Three Champions League titles in a row and has scored in two of the four finals he has played for the Spanish club.

John Terry

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Blue Army legend captain Terry, led Chelsea to the Champions League final in the 07-08 season, he however missed the decisive penalty  that would have handed Chelsea the trophy leading Man United to win instead. Terry is Chelsea’s most successful captain, having led them to five Premier League titles, four FA Cups, three League Cups, one UEFA Europa League and one UEFA Champions League title since 2004. He is one of five players to have made over 500 appearances for Chelsea and is also the club’s all-time highest scoring defender. In 2007, he became the first captain to lift the FA Cup at the new Wembley Stadium in Chelsea’s 1–0 win over Manchester United, and also the first player to score an international goal there, scoring a header in England’s 1–1 draw with Brazil. In his final season at Chelsea in 2017, he became the first ever player to captain a team to the Premier League title on five occasions. He currently plays for Championship side Aston Villa where he is also the captain.

Puyol

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Barcelona’s iron captain Puyol, is also a member of the 2008 European Championship winning team.. As the core of the defense of Barcelona and the Spanish national team, Puyol has been slashing fiercely and aggressively, and his ability to clear the air is also excellent. He is also a member of the football Grand Slam and has won numerous honors in his career

A one-club man, he served as the long-time team captain for his only club Barcelona after taking over from Luis Enrique in August 2004, and went on to appear in 593 official games for the club and win 20 major titles, notably six La Liga trophies and three Champions League titles.

A Spain international on 100 occasions, Puyol was part of the squad that won the Euro 2008 and the 2010 World Cup tournaments. In the latter competition’s semi-final, he scored the only goal of the match against Germany. In the summer of 2014, Puyol announced his retirement from football.

Phillip Lahm

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In The 2007-08 season, German International Phillip Lahm helped Bayern win the Bundesliga championship. He was the captain of Bayern Munich, having skippered them to numerous honours including the 2013 UEFA Champions League as part of the Treble. He is also a former captain of his national team, which he led to win the 2014 FIFA World Cup, before retiring from international football. In the summer of 2016/2017, Lahm announced he would retire from club football too and focus on getting his managerial badges.

Iker Casillas

They were the best in Europe 10 years ago, how is it going now?

2008 was the year of Iker Casillas’ harvest, he won the league title with Real Madrid, the European Champioship with Spain, and the individual’s Zamora Award (the most efficient goalkeeper in a single season). Under Casillas’s captaincy, Spain went on to win its first ever World Cup in 2010 and retain the European Championship in 2012. At the 2014 World Cup, Casillas and teammate Xavi joined Andoni Zubizarreta and Fernando Hierro in representing Spain at four World Cups. Casillas also led Real Madrid to the Champions League title in 2014 as captain. He later moved to Porto where he is still playing to date

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