Roo and Leighton flying the flag

Posted Thursday, June 13, 2013 by Marca.com

EUROVISION ... Wayne Rooney

WAYNE ROONEY and Leighton Baines are the only England stars to feature in a list of the top 30 players in Europe.

The findings were published yesterday in a study using official Opta stats.

There were 11 players from the Premier League in the final 30 — more than double those from the Bundesliga.

But only Everton’s Baines (16th) and Manchester United’s Rooney (26th) can play for the Three Lions.

The main difference is the number of players at German clubs that play for their national team.

Number crunchers at Bloomberg used the stats and applied it to a system to analyse performances.

The criteria was devised after talks with performance directors at top clubs.

It is similar to the ‘Moneyball’ method of analysis in baseball which inspired a film starring Brad Pitt.

Dutchman Robin van Persie was sixth in the list and Welsh whiz Gareth Bale ninth. Barcelona’s Lionel Messi was top with Real Madrid’s Cristiano Ronaldo in second.

BSPORTS POWER FOOTBALL RANKINGS (Top 30): 1 Lionel Messi, 2 Cristiano Ronaldo, 3 Franck Ribery, 4 Marco Reus, 5 Andrea Pirlo, 6 Robin van Persie (Man Utd), 7 Giorgio Chiellini, 8 Marek Hamsik, 9 Gareth Bale (Tottenham), 10 Santi Cazorla (Arsenal), 11 Arturo Vidal, 12 Marouane Fellaini (Everton), 13 Maxime Gonalons, 14 Bastian Schweinsteiger, 15 Luis Suarez (Liverpool), 16 Leighton Baines (Everton), 17 Mesut Ozil, 18 Jan Vertonghen (Tottenham), 19 Thomas Muller, 20 Edinson Cavani, 21 Rafael (Man Utd), 22 Toni Kroos, 23 Zlatan Ibrahimovic, 24 Juan Mata (Chelsea), 25 Xavi, 26 Wayne Rooney (Man Utd), 27 Kwadwo Asamoah, 28 Christian Abbiati, 29 Christian Benteke (A Villa), 30 Radamel Falcao.