UEFA Champions League Team of the Group Stage Features No Barcelona Players

UEFA have announced their team of the Champions League group stage, but surprisingly, there's no room for the likes of Neymar, Luis Suarez or Lionel Messi—or any of their Barcelona team-mates.  

The Blaugrana finished atop Group E, having netted 15 goals and conceded four. Only Bayern Munich and Real Madrid scored more, and the pair comprised a small handful of sides who shipped one less, while Paris Saint-Germain conceded just once in total.

Barca were also one of just two teams to go unbeaten across all six games, the other being arch-rivals Real. Here is UEFA's team of the group stage, courtesy of their official website:

Position	Player	Team
Goalkeeper	Kevin Trapp	Paris Saint-Germain
Defender	Andrea Barzagli	Juventus
Defender	Thiago Silva	Paris Saint-Germain
Defender	Diego Godin	Atletico Madrid
Defender	David Alaba	Bayern Munich
Midfielder	Sven Kums	Gent
Midfielder	Willian	Chelsea
Midfielder	Raheem Sterling	Manchester City
Forward	Thomas Muller	Bayern Munich
Forward	Hulk	Zenit St Petersburg
Forward	Cristiano Ronaldo	Real Madrid

While Messi's exclusion is, for once, understandable, given he played in just three of the games due to injury—still notching three goals and an assist though, the same accrued by Raheem Sterling who featured in all six—for Neymar and Suarez to both miss out is strange.

As the Champions League's official Twitter feed revealed, the Brazilian was the joint-top assist provider while the Uruguayan was outscored by just three players:

For added context, Neymar also netted twice while Suarez assisted three times.

It is not the only capacity in which Barcelona players have been excluded in similar circumstances, as Neymar's player of the month award for November was the first time a Blaugrana player had been given the award since its inception in September 2013, despite the fact they won the league last year.

One conceivable reason for the snub could be that Barca are so good, to choose their players—their forwards in particular—would simply seem too obvious unless they do something truly exceptional, as Cristiano Ronaldo did with his record-breaking haul of 11 goals. 

Their exclusion isn't likely to bother them, however, and while they drew one of the toughest possible opponents for the round of 16 against Arsenal, the Catalan giants are still likely to reach at least the semi-finals.

Should that be the case, expect at least one Barca player to feature in UEFA's Champions League team of the season in May.