{"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":[],"class_list":["post-289199","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-soccer"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v24.1 - 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 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 [...]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/soccer\/mesut-ozil-names-his-champions-league-dream-team\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Sportstoft\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-09-19T10:34:37+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Jeanette\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Jeanette\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/soccer\/mesut-ozil-names-his-champions-league-dream-team\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/soccer\/mesut-ozil-names-his-champions-league-dream-team\/\",\"name\":\"Mesut Ozil names his Champions League dream team - Sportstoft\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/soccer\/mesut-ozil-names-his-champions-league-dream-team\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/soccer\/mesut-ozil-names-his-champions-league-dream-team\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/Mesut-Ozil-names-his-Champions-League-dream-team.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-09-19T10:34:37+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-09-19T10:34:37+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/#\/schema\/person\/74db1979fe71b5ea01513ec1ce5bc609\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/soccer\/mesut-ozil-names-his-champions-league-dream-team\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/soccer\/mesut-ozil-names-his-champions-league-dream-team\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/soccer\/mesut-ozil-names-his-champions-league-dream-team\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/Mesut-Ozil-names-his-Champions-League-dream-team.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/Mesut-Ozil-names-his-Champions-League-dream-team.jpg\",\"width\":636,\"height\":382},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/soccer\/mesut-ozil-names-his-champions-league-dream-team\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Soccer\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/category\/soccer\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"Mesut Ozil names his Champions League dream team\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/\",\"name\":\"Sportstoft\",\"description\":\"sportstoft.com\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/#\/schema\/person\/74db1979fe71b5ea01513ec1ce5bc609\",\"name\":\"Jeanette\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d7cef2e0d8d634cb49d54f7c48b549a1?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d7cef2e0d8d634cb49d54f7c48b549a1?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Jeanette\"}}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Mesut Ozil names his Champions League dream team - Sportstoft","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/soccer\/mesut-ozil-names-his-champions-league-dream-team\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Mesut Ozil names his Champions League dream team - Sportstoft","og_description":"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 [...]","og_url":"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/soccer\/mesut-ozil-names-his-champions-league-dream-team\/","og_site_name":"Sportstoft","article_published_time":"2023-09-19T10:34:37+00:00","author":"Jeanette","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Jeanette","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/soccer\/mesut-ozil-names-his-champions-league-dream-team\/","url":"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/soccer\/mesut-ozil-names-his-champions-league-dream-team\/","name":"Mesut Ozil names his Champions League dream team - Sportstoft","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/soccer\/mesut-ozil-names-his-champions-league-dream-team\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/soccer\/mesut-ozil-names-his-champions-league-dream-team\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/Mesut-Ozil-names-his-Champions-League-dream-team.jpg","datePublished":"2023-09-19T10:34:37+00:00","dateModified":"2023-09-19T10:34:37+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/#\/schema\/person\/74db1979fe71b5ea01513ec1ce5bc609"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/soccer\/mesut-ozil-names-his-champions-league-dream-team\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/soccer\/mesut-ozil-names-his-champions-league-dream-team\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/soccer\/mesut-ozil-names-his-champions-league-dream-team\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/Mesut-Ozil-names-his-Champions-League-dream-team.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/Mesut-Ozil-names-his-Champions-League-dream-team.jpg","width":636,"height":382},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/soccer\/mesut-ozil-names-his-champions-league-dream-team\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Soccer","item":"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/category\/soccer\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Mesut Ozil names his Champions League dream team"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/","name":"Sportstoft","description":"sportstoft.com","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/#\/schema\/person\/74db1979fe71b5ea01513ec1ce5bc609","name":"Jeanette","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d7cef2e0d8d634cb49d54f7c48b549a1?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d7cef2e0d8d634cb49d54f7c48b549a1?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Jeanette"}}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/289199","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=289199"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/289199\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/289198"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=289199"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=289199"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=289199"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}