Guardian names Messi player of the year

The Guardian has revealed the top ten spots in its ranking of the best 100 players in the world in 2013, as selected by a panel of judges. Messi leads the list ahead of Cristiano and Ibrahimovic, with Ribéry, Iniesta, Neymar, Bale, Xavi, Luis Suárez and Agüero completing the honour roll.

Barcelona is the 'La Liga' team with the most representatives in the list, namely 11 (Messi, Iniesta, Neymar, Xavi, Busquets, Cesc, Piqué, Alves, Mascherano, Valdés and Alexis).

There are nine Real players in the top 100 (Cristiano, Bale, Xabi Alonso, Ramos, Benzema, Marcelo, Modric, Di María and Isco) and five Atlético players (Diego Costa, Courtois, Arda Turan, Alderweireld and Koke).