{"id":289199,"date":"2023-09-19T10:34:37","date_gmt":"2023-09-19T10:34:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/?p=289199"},"modified":"2023-09-19T10:34:37","modified_gmt":"2023-09-19T10:34:37","slug":"mesut-ozil-names-his-champions-league-dream-team","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/soccer\/mesut-ozil-names-his-champions-league-dream-team\/","title":{"rendered":"Mesut Ozil names his Champions League dream team"},"content":{"rendered":"<h1>Mesut Ozil names his Champions League dream team, with ex-Arsenal star opting for a 37-year-old centre-back, one Englishman and a surprising Sevilla selection in midfield<\/h1>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>The new Champions League season gets underway on Tuesday evening\u00a0<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Mesut Ozil took to social media to name his ultimate XI for this year&#8217;s tournament<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Listen to the latest episode of Mail Sport&#8217;s podcast It&#8217;s All Kicking Off!<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Mesut Ozil has named his dream team for the new Champions League season and there are a few surprises.<\/p>\n<p>Europe&#8217;s premier competition gets back underway on Tuesday night with the first round of group matches.<\/p>\n<p>And former Arsenal and Real Madrid star Ozil has taken to Twitter to name what he describes as his &#8216;best XI&#8217;.<\/p>\n<p>Kylian Mbappe and Erling Haaland unsurprisingly lead the line with Manchester City&#8217;s Rodri at the base of midfield.<\/p>\n<p>Ozil opts for an Arsenal man in the form of Bukayo Saka on the right wing and a German on the left in Leroy Sane.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/09\/19\/10\/75588135-12534821-image-m-51_1695114852518.jpg\" height=\"174\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/09\/19\/10\/75588141-12534821-image-a-50_1695114844563.jpg\" height=\"518\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>35-year-old Sevilla veteran Ivan Rakitic is an unexpected inclusion alongside Rodri with Madrid&#8217;s Eduardo Camavinga completing the midfield.<\/p>\n<p>The back line is made up of former Madrid team-mate Sergio Ramos as well as current Los Blancos defender Antonio Rudiger and Ruben Dias.<\/p>\n<p>Manuel Neuer, who won the World Cup with Ozil, is between the sticks.<\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s no surprise to see reigning champions Man City with the most players featuring in the XI (3).<\/p>\n<p>Ozil retired from football at the age of 34 earlier this year with back problems playing a big role in his decision.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/09\/19\/10\/75587809-12534821-image-a-52_1695114961355.jpg\" height=\"423\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Ozil retired from professional football earlier this year after struggling with injuries\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Revealing the news in March, he wrote: &#8216;Hello everyone, After thoughtful consideration, l&#8217;m announcing my immediate retirement from professional football.<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;I&#8217;ve had the privilege to be a professional football player for almost 17 years now and I feel incredibly thankful for the opportunity.<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;But in recent weeks and months, having also suffered some injuries, it&#8217;s become more and more clear that it&#8217;s time to leave the big stage of football.&#8217;\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Ozil had little success in the Champions League as a player, failing to reach a final.<\/p>\n<h3>IT&#8217;S ALL KICKING OFF!\u00a0<\/h3>\n<p><span>It&#8217;s All Kicking Off\u00a0is an exciting new podcast from Mail Sport that promises a different take on Premier League football, launching with a preview show today and every week this season.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>It is available on MailOnline, Mail+, YouTube , Apple Music and Spotify<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Your browser does not support iframes.<\/p>\n<p>.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/i\/pix\/2017\/08\/02\/636x90_facebook_ad_sport.png\" width=\"636\" height=\"90\"><br \/>\nSource: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailymail.co.uk\/sport\/football\/article-12534821\/Mesut-Ozil-names-Champions-League-dream-team-ex-Arsenal-star-opting-37-year-old-centre-one-Englishman-surprising-Sevilla-selection-midfield.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Read Full Article<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div class=\"mh-excerpt\"><p>Mesut Ozil names his Champions League dream team, with ex-Arsenal star opting for a 37-year-old centre-back, one Englishman and a surprising Sevilla selection in midfield <a class=\"mh-excerpt-more\" href=\"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/soccer\/mesut-ozil-names-his-champions-league-dream-team\/\" title=\"Mesut Ozil names his Champions League dream team\">[&#8230;]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":289198,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Mesut Ozil names his Champions League dream team - Sportstoft<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/soccer\/mesut-ozil-names-his-champions-league-dream-team\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Mesut Ozil names his Champions League dream team - Sportstoft\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Mesut Ozil names his 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