ANDY BRASSELL: World′s Best XI

November 29, 2024
Discounts and Sales

World football expert ANDY BRASSELL talks through our selections for the World’s Best XI, introducing some of the incredible icons whose shirts are 50% OFF on Icons.com throughout our Black Friday sales event.

From Gianluigi Buffon to Cafu, Zinedine Zidane and, of course, Lionel Messi, Andy takes us through each icon and why they’re a part of our World’s Best XI sale.

Get 50% OFF each player in our World’s Best XI sale on Icons.com until Monday December 9th with regular substitutions adding new icons and more amazing savings!


ANDY BRASSELL: Assessing the Race for the 2024 Ballon d’Or

October 28, 2024
Previews and Predictions

As we prepare to learn who this year’s recipient of the Ballon d’Or will be, it is worth reflecting on how much its parameters have changed in the last couple of years. The decade of Lionel Messi’s and Cristiano Ronaldo’s dominance of the trophy had transformed its meaning forever. Nobody else won it between prime Kaká lifting it in 2007 after AC Milan’s UEFA Champions League win and it being awarded to Luka Modrić in 2018 for his role in Croatia’s run to the World Cup final in that year.

Going back before Kaká, the award used to be about a feeling, an approximation of relative greatness and a sense of a single player who captured the zeitgeist more than any other in that calendar year, like Fabio Cannavaro when Italy sensationally won the 2006 FIFA World Cup against the looking backdrop of Calciopoli, for example.

Messi and Ronaldo changed all that. If heated discussions of who was ‘the best’ of any era eventually progressed to an invitation to put your medals on the table, the two biggest superstars of the 21st century took that line of thinking to and beyond its natural conclusion. Their brilliance was so blinding and their statistical achievements so mind-boggling that numbers and trophies were really the only way to separate them, and to crown the best of any particular year.

The Ballon d’Or has regrouped since then and is settling into a middle ground between its old self and what it became in the Messi/Ronaldo years (even if Argentina’s genius won it thrice more post-Modrić’s triumph). We are now decidedly past the Messi/Ronaldo domination, as if the 2022 World Cup final bookended the story, and this year we have the most open field in recent memory.


Vinícius Júnior (Real Madrid CF / Brazil)

A report in Madrid-based daily As this week trumpeted that Real Madrid CF are internally so sure that their Brazilian superstar will win it that they ”take for granted” that the 24-year-old has it in the bag already. He makes a convincing case after his huge role in a team that won La Liga losing only once and then went on to lift the UEFA Champions League/European Cup again, extending their record of wins to 15 – and he scored the clincher in the Wembley final at the end of a third successive 20-goal season.

Quite apart from ticking all the boxes on the eye test every weekend Vini has become a totemic footballer, from making a mockery of the pressure of his €45million pricetag when he arrived in the capital as a teenager with next to no first-team experience in 2018, to dealing with a catalogue of racist abuse with strength and dignity. Despite an unfulfilling Copa America – he was banned for Brazil’s quarter-final exit – Vini is arguably the footballer of this and probably most other years.


Jude Bellingham (Real Madrid CF / England)

Had 2023/24 finished at the halfway stage, Bellingham would surely have been a shoo-in for the Ballon d’Or. He had already been prodigy, best player and leader (and almost Bundesliga title winner) at Borussia Dortmund, with the maturity to excel in a variety of midfield positions. The sudden exit of 2022 winner Karim Benzema from the Bernabéu gave Bellingham the chance to write a Roy Of The Rovers opening chapter to his own Real Madrid CF story, being pushed into an advanced role and ending up his debut season in Spain with 23 goals.

The second half of the season was a bit more of a learning curve as he dealt with closer marking, rough treatment and repeated attempts to wind him up from opponents, and he didn’t score in the UEFA Champions League knockout rounds. It wasn’t that he didn’t play well, it was that he had set himself unsustainable standards, and he battled through plain fatigue as well (and was still able, even below peak physical condition, to pull rabbits out of hats like his extraordinary equaliser for England against Slovenia in the Euros). Maybe – with stats weighing so heavily on modern Ballon d’Or consideration – last season was Bellingham’s best chance to win the trophy, but that tougher end to last term will make him a better player in the long run.


Kylian Mbappé (Paris Saint-Germain / Real Madrid CF / France)

In any normal year, Mbappé’s candidacy would be a very serious one having won another league title and reached the semi-finals of both UEFA Champions League and UEFA EURO 2024. The statistics are convincing as well, with 27 in 24 Ligue 1 starts (plus 7 assists) for Paris Saint-Germain, not to mention 8 in 12 in the UEFA Champions League, before authoring a good start to his long-awaited Real Madrid CF career.

This has, however, not been a normal year for Mbappé, nor is he an ordinary player. His (and France’s) disappointing Euros, stymied by lack of match rhythm and a facial injury, will probably define his 2024, as well as his ongoing dispute with PSG which cost him the fluency to succeed in Germany in the summer. We should really be looking at how remarkable it is that he put up the numbers he did with these clouds looming over him. It is hard to believe there will not be further opportunities for Mbappé to make the Ballon d’Or his.


Rodri (Manchester City / Spain)

If ever there was a player to be this year’s Modrić, then it was Rodri. His winning goal in 2023’s UEFA Champions League final will always be a career highlight but it was neither indicative of the greatest strengths in his game nor, perhaps, even destined to be the absolute pinnacle of his footballing story, given his talent and the company he keeps on the field.

Until a recent ACL injury brought his 2024 to a grinding halt it had been a sensational year. City have been borderline unbeatable with Rodri in their line-up – he last lost a Premier League game in February 2023 – with his ability to retain the ball and his range of passing supplemented in recent years with a willingness to bring it into the final third. He was also a key part of Spain’s glorious Euro 2024 winning campaign (even though he was forced off in the final), with his leadership key in a younger team than previous successful Spanish vintages. As we sit in the rare vacuum of not being quite sure who the world’s best player is, this year would be Rodri’s best chance of the award.


Erling Haaland (Manchester City / Norway)

It tells you everything about the high watermarks that Haaland has set that his apparently difficult second season at Manchester City – where he was subject to far greater scrutiny and suffered a series of minor injuries – still yielded 38 goals and another Premier League title. The sticks occasionally used to beat him are ridiculous. In the post-gegenpressing era the game needs strikers who don’t wear themselves out with over-involvement in the game, keeping themselves fresh to exercise ultimate clarity in front of goal. Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Mauro Icardi, for example, have often used this template over the past decade. Haaland does it to a far higher level than them or anyone else.

City may have seen another treble slip through their grasp last season but still achieved highly, as did their centre-forward, who is a guarantee of goals and an innovator in terms of finishing. He also broke Norway’s all-time scoring record in 2024, going along at pretty much a goal per game, as he has for much of his club career. This might not have been his year to get the big award but he will stay in the mix for years to come, the closest to those Messi/Ronaldo statistical highs of any player of his generation.


ANDY BRASSELL: What To Watch On Matchday One Of The New UEFA Champions League

September 17, 2024
Previews and Predictions

The newly-reformatted UEFA Champions League is here! Who better to guide you through the first matchday of a new era for European football’s biggest and brightest club competition than continental football expert ANDY BRASSELL, here to take you through the main focal points of the first week of action.

HUGE MATCH-UPS

There have been two main stages to the build-up to this year’s reformatted UEFA Champions League; pre-draw, in which many were confused by what the big, new, all-in-one league phase would look like, and post-draw, in which many of the original naysayers were now drooling with anticipation over some of the big fixtures.


And we have them from the get-go this week. AC Milan v Liverpool FC, Manchester City v Internazionale and AS Monaco v FC Barcelona are all outstanding matches with the potential to get this fresh era off to an absolute flier. With the UEFA Champions League restarting in bold fashion with fixtures over a three- day window rather than two, each one of Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday has its huge, must-watch game.


Wednesday’s centrepiece between City and Inter is probably the ultimate pick, a rerun of the 2023 Final and one containing two of Europe’s best sides who have every right to believe in their chances of going deep into this season’s campaign. The Italian champions have a far better team now than the one that got to Istanbul in 2023; in fact they were improved last season too, and still managed to drop the ball against Atlético Madrid in the Round of 16. With City feeling a bit mugged-off by Real Madrid CF last season, both sides have scores to settle.

HANDBRAKE OFF

We were used to a degree of caution in the UEFA Champions League group stages as teams managed workload and resources and played it safe to ensure they finished in the top two. Maybe a best practice approach to this new megagroup will emerge at some point, but it is unlikely to do so this season, and it certainly won’t in the opening weeks.


Why? Quite simply there is no way of knowing yet how many points a team needs to make it into the top eight (and thus directly into the last 16) or, for those below-elite clubs with slightly lesser aims, into the top 24 to make it into the playoffs for the first knockout round.


It might be that, for instance, somewhere around the 16-point mark from the eight games gets top eight – and you bet your last pound/euro that the biggest clubs will do everything they can to get two midweek
matchdays of rest – while around nine should earn teams a playoff spot. For now, though, we just can’t know. And neither can the clubs.


So from Paris Saint-Germain or Real Madrid CF to Brest or Sturm Graz, the only option is to go for it. The biggest clubs can’t play conservatively with that tangible prize of a couple of games off lying ahead of them. The smaller clubs know a couple of good results will keep them in the mix for post-January involvement. So whether your aim is to top the class or to scrape a passmark, being aggressive and positive is probably the only way to do it, which has to be good news for the watching public.

NEW SIGNINGS WITH POINTS TO PROVE

Generally European clubs are counting the pennies more closely than in a long while but a few clubs have been determined to change their squads profoundly this summer, and have often traded furiously to that end. Juventus (who start against PSV Eindhoven on Tuesday) are one giant who has used the summer to get rid of players as well as bring them in and present an exciting new squad for this return to the UEFA Champions League.


It is the biggest stage and for that reason the new boys will be keen to take their opportunities to show their new clubs that they did the right thing in signing them. Michael Olise’s European debut is hotly anticipated, having already conquered swathes of France fans on his first senior squad call-up earlier this month. FC Bayern Munich (who play Dinamo Zagreb) have a rich history of wide players and the Hammersmith-born man scored his first goal for the club in their 6-1 demolition of Holstein Kiel this weekend.


The summer’s biggest signing was Julián Alvarez, who arrived at Atlético looking a little jaded (hardly surprising given he played nearly 80 games in a last season for Manchester City and Argentina that lasted 11 months) but he has started to find an extra gear in recent weeks, scoring in a win against Chile for Argentina and then getting his first Atleti goal to seal a win against Valencia CF on Sunday night. Diego Simeone’s team host RB Leipzig and Alvarez may well be in the starting lineup.


Douglas Luiz is another overworked player who could do with finding some inspiration this week. The Brazilian made a first start for Juventus since joining from Aston Villa in the goalless draw at Empoli this weekend, and he received some criticism for his display. As with Alvarez, it is a little unfair after he arrived straight from a summer playing in the Copa América. Juve were prepared to push the boat out for him so he could give Kenan Yıldız, Teun Koopmeiners and Nico González the space to flex their creative muscles, so Douglas Luiz will be even more vital – arguably – in a UEFA Champions League context as the Serie A side look to return to the top table in style.

ICON OF THE MATCHWEEK: Vinícius Júnior (Real Madrid CF)

The brilliant Brazilian was on the scoresheet again at the weekend, netting the vital penalty opener at Real Sociedad in a hard-fought win. Much has been made of the relationship between Vini and Kylian Mbappé and how they might tactically fit; with them both being renowned for outstanding movement and having played significant parts of last season in a front two and as a central striker respectively, the flexibility they will give Carlo Ancelotti is significant.


This week, however, they land together in Real Madrid CF’s natural habitat, in the arena in which they will be judged ahead of all others. VfB Stuttgart, last season’s surprise Bundesliga runners-up, arrive at the Bernabéu and will prove a test.


Sebastian Hoeness’ team are not shy; they play attacking, possession-based football and this, combined with a habitually narrow midfield shape, should mean that Vini will find more space on the left flank than he would be likely to in your average La Liga game. VfB Stuttgart will come to spoil a Madrid party and, inadvertently, might give Vini and Mbappé the chance to party themselves.


ANDY BRASSELL: Five Icons You Have Heard Of And Five You Have Not at UEFA EURO 2024

June 14, 2024
Previews and Predictions

You’ll have seen him on Sky Sports, heard him on The Football Ramble and read his expert European football insight here, there and everywhere, now ANDY BRASSELL tells Icons.com the stars you need to keep your eyes on at UEFA EURO 2024.

Five Icons You’ve Heard Of…

We have to come straight out the gate with the man who makes France (at least joint) favourites, Kylian Mbappé. The 25-year-old had a strange final season with Paris Saint-Germain, banished from the first-team squad at the beginning of the season after declining to opt into the final year of his contract and further marginalised since telling the club he was leaving in February. Real Madrid CF’s future centre-forward, remarkably, still scored 51 times over the course of the season and even if he has looked understandably rusty in recent weeks after playing only intermittently, perhaps he’ll have plenty left in the tank for this tournament. 

Despite Harry Kane’s amazing first campaign outside of his home country, we have to look to Mbappé’s future club for England’s main man. In any normal situation the Premier League’s outstanding player Phil Foden would be a shoo-in to be stationed just behind Kane, but nothing about Jude Bellingham is normal. He has had a phenomenal first season at the Bernabéu in a more advanced role in which Gareth Southgate will want to use him. Bellingham has scored only three times in his opening 29 games for England but it does not take a genius to figure that will now change very quickly – probably in the country where he made his name with his performances for Borussia Dortmund. 

Bellingham could have easily had Jamal Musiala next to him in the Three Lions’ midfield, with the pair having appeared for England Under-16s together, but the Bayern Munich midfielder opted for Germany after a Jogi Löw charm offensive and the rest is history. At just 21, he is already vital for Germany with his change of pace, his dribbling, his ability to trim through the lines and his goalscoring. He will be one of the most exciting players to watch this summer. 

“Nothing about Jude Bellingham is normal.”

– Andy Brassell on England’s talisman

Bruno Fernandes always aims to be exciting too – a player who conducts the orchestra with urgency rather than reserve. Like many at Manchester United, he has had his difficulties this season but this current Portugal team is built for him. It is no longer the Cristiano Ronaldo show and it is no longer the case that everything has to run through their number seven. It is Fernandes’ team now and he has the passing to bring their wide men into play as well as make his late runs into the box to score.  

After Khvicha Kvaratskhelia’s unbelievable debut season at SSC Napoli in 2022-23 helped them win their first Serie A title since Diego Maradona’s time at the club (the locals don’t call him ‘Kvaradona’ for nothing), the sophomore campaign has been a bit tougher, always playing catch-up after his pre-season was curtailed by injury. Kvaratskhelia has still had his moments and his superstar status in Georgia demands he show out in Germany, with the trademark dribbles and directness that make him such an idol. 

Five Icons You Maybe Haven’t Heard Of…

It’s very possible you’re already well-aware of the work of Florian Wirtz after his instrumental role in Bayer Leverkusen’s amazing league and cup double-winning season. But UEFA EURO 2024 is set to be the time in which he becomes a household name the world over. He is the only player in Xabi Alonso’s team to be given the freedom to “dribble where he sees fit” (as Alonso described to me last year) but that’s because he is always trusted to make the right call. Wirtz opens space to make the last pass and score and is full of confidence – as well as having been rotated judiciously by Alonso, so he should have energy to spare.

If Wirtz hopes to make a dent in next season’s UEFA Champions League, Georgiy Sudakov has already done it. Ukraine’s 21-year-old midfielder put in a series of stunning performances for Shakhtar Donetsk in the season just gone – including a man-of-the-match display as they racked up a famous win over FC Barcelona – and has a rare feel for when to keep the ball and when to send it on its way. If he repeats that with his national team this summer, Shakhtar can consider selling him for a similar price to that for which his best mate Mykhailo Mudryk went. 

Johan Bakayoko is also aiming for the top, having spoken recently about how he intends to aim for the Ballon d’Or in years to come. For now the Belgium winger is coming off a very good season for an all-conquering PSV, scoring 12 times and providing nine assists for their winning Eredivisie campaign. His speed and canny left foot is becoming more and more important for a national team trying to take some of the creative burden off Kevin De Bruyne. The Premier League beckons next for Bakayoko.

“UEFA EURO 2024 is set to be the time in which he becomes a household name the world over.”

Andy Brassell on Florian Wirtz

Georges Mikautadze is another set for a big move this summer. Georgia’s starting centre-forward began the season with Metz, went to Ajax, was loaned back to Metz after limited playing time and almost kept them in Ligue 1 with his goals (13 in 20 starts). A smart finisher with plenty of pace, Mikautadze could make the most of space from Kvaratskhelia drawing all the attention and seal a big move in the process. 

Italy might not have a squad packed with star names as we’ve come to expect, but there are a few who could present themselves to the world this summer. Perhaps Davide Frattesi could be one of them. The 24-year-old midfielder has had to bide his time in his first season at Internazionale, starting only six times in Serie A, but has made some important contributions charging forward to score big goals. Frattesi has already done the same for Italy, hitting a brace at San Siro to decide a vital qualifying win over Ukraine, and should have plenty left in his legs at the end of a long season compared to some of the competition.   

Which exciting new talent should Icons be signing in the future?

Given Spain’s domination of much of European football’s 21st century so far it is remarkable that a 16-year-old is their most fêted player ahead of UEFA EURO 2024. Lamine Yamal has been Spain’s youngest ever player, youngest ever starter and youngest ever scorer, and will likely go on to impress in this tournament. His surgical left-footed delivery and ability to go past players should give La Roja the ability to speed up play, something they have lacked in recent tournaments.

Where Yamal could well start for Spain, Francisco Conceição may have to content himself with a place on the bench for Portugal, but he has everything you could want in an impact player. Back at FC Porto after a disappointing spell at Ajax, Conceição’s mazy left-footed dribbling creates chances and commits defenders. The 21-year-old finished the season in fine form and was excellent in the friendly win over Finland. 

Portugal also have box-to-box power in João Neves, a talent who is attracting the attention of the Premier League’s biggest clubs after his performances for SL Benfica this season. At 19-years-old Neves has an incredible engine, he rarely gives the ball away and could even earn a starting place should Roberto Martínez aim for more balance in a team full to the brim with attacking talent.

Dark Horses

It’s extraordinary that since the full-scale invasion by Russia, Ukraine’s national side have not only carried on but come within a whisker of getting to the 2022 FIFA World Cup before qualifying for this tournament. This tells us about the fortitude of a nation and its footballers, of course. It should also tell us that this is a squad jam-packed with talent. 

As well as Murdyk and Sudakov, they have La Liga’s top scorer in Artem Dovbyk, his Girona teammate Viktor Tsygankov and a great goalkeeper to back it all up in Benfica’s Anatoliy Trubin – or Real Madrid CF’s Andriy Lunin, if coach Sergiy Rebrov prefers. Add to that the fact they’re facing a far-from-insurmountable group comprising Slovakia, Romania and Belgium and a repeat of UEFA EURO 2020’s unexpected quarter-final is on the table.

Shop the full collection of official UEFA EURO 2024 memorabilia on Icons.com, including signed shirts, boots, balls, photos and replica trophies.