European football experts pick the top 50 players of the year 2014

Cristiano Ronaldo, Manuel Neuer and Lionel Messi top the list.

In their latest issue, Norwegian football magazine Josimar assimilated the combination of European football experts Tor-Kristian Karlsen, Gabriele Marcotti and Philippe Auclair who had named their top 50 players in the world for the year 2014.

Karlsen is a Norwegian football scout and executive who currently acts as AS Monaco’s sporting director while Marcotti and Auclair are two of Europe’s most prominent football journalists.

Cristiano Ronaldo, who is already tipped to win the award, tops this list with Neuer and Messi following him on the second spot. This list misses many of the big names such as Wayne Rooney, David Silva, Marco Reus, Thiago Silva, Oscar, Petr Cech while they have Frank Lampard, André Schürrle, Pablo Zabaleta and Hugo Lloris in the top 50.

Here are the top 50 players:

1. Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid)

2. Manuel Neuer (Bayern Munich)

3. Lionel Messi (Barcelona)

4. Philipp Lahm (Bayern Munich)

5. Thomas Müller (Bayern Munich)

6. Arjen Robben (Bayern Munich)

7. Diego Costa (Chelsea)

8. Luis Suàrez (Barcelona)

9. Zlatan Ibrahimovic (Paris Saint-Germain)

10. Angel di Maria (Manchester United)

11. Thibaut Courtois (Chelsea)

12. Javier Mascherano (Barcelona)

13. Neymar (Barcelona)

14. James Rodriguez (Real Madrid)

15. Toni Kroos (Real Madrid)

16. Luka Modric (Real Madrid)

17. Gareth Bale (Real Madrid)

18. Alexis Sanchez (Arsenal)

19. Karim Benzema (Real Madrid)

20. Paul Pogba (Juventus)

21. Branislav Ivanovic (Chelsea)

22. Nemanja Matic (Chelsea)

23. Pablo Zabaleta (Manchester City)

24. Bastian Schweinsteiger (Bayern Munich)

25. Keylor Navas (Real Madrid)

26. Carlos Tevez (Juventus)

27. Ivan Rakitic (Barcelona)

28. David Alaba (Bayern Munich)

29. Eden Hazard (Chelsea)

30. Sergio Aguero (Manchester City)

31. Robert Lewandowski (Bayern Munich)

32. Andres Iniesta (Barcelona)

33. Yaya Toure (Manchester City)

34. Arturo Vidal (Juventus)

35. Mario Götze (Bayern Munich)

36. Diego Godin (Atlético Madrid)

37. Edin Dzeko (Manchester City)

38. Mats Hummels (Borussia Dortmund)

39. Hugo Lloris (Tottenham)

40. Raheem Sterling (Liverpool)

41. Leonardo Bonucci (Juventus)

42. André Schürrle (Chelsea)

43. Cesc Fabregas (Chelsea)

44. David de Gea (Manchester United)

45. Radja Nainggolan (AS Roma)

46. Vincent Kompany (Manchester City)

47. Vincent Enyeama (Lille)

48. Gianluigi Buffon (Juventus)

49. Carlos Bacca (Sevilla)

50. Frank Lampard (Manchester City)