Goalkeeper Oblak makes Champions League best team again
Ljubljana, 5 June - Slovenia's national team goalkeeper Jan Oblak has again made it to the UEFA Champions League squad of the season, the honour coming as a consolation prize after his Atletico Madrid lost to city rivals and eventual champions Real Madrid in the semi-finals.
Ljubljana
Slovenian goalkeeper Jan Oblak.
Photo: Nebojša Tejić/STA
The group of UEFA technical observers who selected the 24-year-old Slovenian to the best 18 players of the 2016/17 Champions League season, said that Oblak had shown excellent goalkeeping for Atletico Madrid, which was proven by an impressive number of saves.
Oblak and Gianluigi Buffon of Juventus Turin, the UEFA Champions League finalists, are the only two goalkeepers who have made it to the team. Last year, Oblak was in the company of Bayern Munich's goalkeeper Manuel Neuer.
The rest of the squad of the season comprises defenders Leonardo Bonucci (Juventus), Dani Carvajal (Real Madrid), Marcelo (Real Madrid), Sergio Ramos (Real Madrid) and Diego Godin (Atletico), midfielders Casemiro (Real Madrid), Toni Kroos (Real Madrid), Luka Modrić (Real Madrid), Isco (Real Madrid), Miralem Pjanić (Juventus) and Tiemoue Bakayoko (Monaco) and strikers Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid), Lionel Messi (Barcelona), Antoine Griezmann (Atletico), Kylian Mbappe (Monaco) and Robert Lewandowski (Bayern).
Oblak is currently preparing with the Slovenian national team for the 2018 FIFA World Cup qualifier against Malta in Ljubljana on 10 June. He has so far made 13 appearances for Slovenia.