European Team of the Week: Lionel Messi and Kevin De Bruyne Bring the Quality

Nicola Sansone is WhoScored.com’s European player of the week. The young Italian played a key role for Sassuolo in their 4-1 thumping of Parma, netting a first-half brace before turning provider after the interval for Simone Missiroli.

Four key passes and a pass-success rate of 94.7 per cent contributed to a commendable WhoScored.com rating of 9.90 and the Man of the Match award.

Lionel Messi features in the XI on the opposite flank after yet another impressive outing in Barcelona’s 2-0 win at Eibar. Messi netted either side of half-time to maintain the Blaugrana’s lead at the top of La Liga. Two key passes and nine successful dribbles rounded off yet another extraordinary showing for the Argentine, who has now picked up the WhoScored.com Man of the Match accolade in nine of his last 10 league appearances.

In the middle of the park, Granit Xhaka stars as a result of his performance in Borussia Mönchengladbach’s 2-0 win at home to Hannover 96. Defensively, the midfielder excelled, making five tackles and three interceptions, while an 89.3 per cent pass-success rate from his 112 attempted passes was ideal for a player in his position. Three key passes and six successful dribbles contributed to his impressive showing as Gladbach maintained their push for a Champions League finish.

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Aaron Ramsey partners Xhaka in midfield this week. The Welshman looked back to his best when Arsenal welcomed West Ham to the Emirates at the weekend and had a helping hand in two of the Gunners’ three goals in the 3-0 win.

Ramsey provided the assist for Olivier Giroud’s opener on the stroke of half-time before getting on the scoresheet with 10 minutes of the game remaining. Five key passes, four tackles and two interceptions capped off an all-round performance from the 24-year-old.

An all-Belgian front pairing this week, with Kevin De Bruyne featuring on the back of yet another Man of the Match display for Wolfsburg. The 23-year-old netted the opener for his side on their way to a 3-0 home win over Freiburg, before turning provider for Maximilian Arnold late on.

De Bruyne’s assist for Arnold was his 16th of the campaign, the most of all players in Europe’s top five leagues this season.

Compatriot Christian Benteke partners De Bruyne up front. The Aston Villa ace has been short of confidence this season, but he appears to be a striker reborn on the back of Tim Sherwood’s appointment with three goals in his last two Premier League appearances. A first-half brace in Villa’s 4-0 thumping of Sunderland on Saturday boosted the Villans’ survival chances, with Benteke’s two goals coming from two shots at the Stadium of Light.

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Wendell stars at left-back after his display in Bayer Leverkusen’s 4-0 win over VfB Stuttgart on Friday night. The Brazilian got the ball rolling for his side by netting the opener on the half-hour mark, but it was his defensive showing that stood out at the BayArena. Nine tackles, seven interceptions and three clearances helped Leverkusen to their third consecutive league clean sheet as Roger Schmidt’s side maintained form in their quest for a top-three finish.

Teammate Kyriakos Papadopoulos features at the heart of the back line on the back of his defensive performance in Friday’s victory. The Greek powerhouse won more aerial duels (15) than any other player at the BayArena, while his three tackles, six interceptions and nine clearances helped Leverkusen secure maximum points.

Gonzalo Rodríguez partners Papdopolous in defence. Rodríguez headed his side level against Milan on Monday night with seven minutes remaining as Fiorentina secured a vital 2-1 win to improve their chances of landing a European berth. Five tackles—one of which was a last-man tackle—four interceptions and 11 clearances also aided La Viola in their pursuit of victory.

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Leandro Bacuna completes the defence this week after impressing for Villa at the Stadium of Light. The 23-year-old made only his second league start of the season at the weekend and did his chances of securing a regular starting berth no harm with a commendable showing at right-back. A majority of Villa’s attacks came down the right side (46 per cent), with Bacuna central to the success the visitors enjoyed on this flank.

The Dutchman played three key passes in the victory, two of which resulted in assists for Benteke, and completed three successful dribbles. Filling in for the suspended Alan Hutton, it remains to be seen whether the Scot will walk straight back into the Villa starting XI after Bacuna’s fine display in Sunderland.

Emiliano Viviano rounds out the XI this week after his performance in Sampdoria’s surprise 2-0 win at Roma on Monday night. Viviano made eight saves to keep the Roma attack at bay and was able to start attacks from the back, with 15 of his 28 attempted long balls finding a teammate.

All statistics courtesy of WhoScored.com, where you can find yet more stats, including live in-game data and unique player and team rankings.