IN-SAN-ITY

Fifa WORST Awards: From Loris Karius and Shkodran Mustafi to Alexis Sanchez, who would be the worst XI in Europe?

FIFA crowned the world's Best XI of footballers on Monday night - but who would feature in a WORST XI?

While 2019 was a golden year for Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo who kept on top form into their thirties and young stars such as Kylian Mbappe maintaining their rise, there were also some absolute stinkers.

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That has inspired Sun Sport to create our own Worst XI featuring the stars who significantly failed to reach their expected levels in the past year.

Picked from the likes of Manchester United, Monaco, Arsenal and Real Madrid, the team even features a player bafflingly put in the FIFPRO top squad.

KAR-YING THE BURDEN

In goal is a man who endured a tough end to the 2017/18 season and saw things get little better the following 12 months.

Karius was shipped out to Besiktas after his blunders for Liverpool and he continues to make big errors and draw criticism.

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A failed attempt to cut the loan short in the summer left the German to battle on as a decent player who is nonetheless known for his serious mishaps.

LO AND BEHOLD

There were serious eyebrows raised when Marcelo was picked over Andrew Robertson for the Team of the Year and we think he should actually be in the Worst XI.

By all accounts, the left-back had a shocking year.

Madrid lost 12 games in La Liga and could only muster third in a campaign that saw the Brazilian dropped for rookie Sergio Reguilon for a number of games, as well as missing his country's Copa America win.

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It feels as though his inclusion into the year's star line-up was more from familiarity and reputation than any discernible achievements on the pitch.

Did Marcelo really deserve to beat Robertson?Credit: EPA

One team who can certainly not claim to have achieved much in 2019 is Monaco.

Kamil Glik under performed at the heart of the Ligue 1 side's defence as they battled relegation.

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Completing the defence in this team are Arsenal flops Shkodran Mustafi and Stephan Lichtsteiner.

Gunners fans became all too aware of the German's error-prone nature as they squandered a top-four spot while seven-time Serie A winner Lichsteiner made just 23 quiet appearances before being released.

MES-Y SITUATION

Mesut Ozil's on-pitch inconsistency has levelled up in 2019 - to almost match the way Unai Emery speaks about the Arsenal midfielder.

A week before The Best ceremony, his current state of affairs was well summed up by being taken off 71 minutes into the Gunners chasing a goal against Tottenham and then being "rested" midweek... only to not feature at all at home to Aston Villa.

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If the £350,000-a-week wages Ozil takes home is too much, Manchester United's £52million splurge on Fred has proved to be a gargantuan waste of money.

Canny Scotsman Scott McTominay has comfortably kept the Brazilian out of the team, leaving United with another major blemish on their recent transfer record.

Chelsea were also guilty of overspending on £35m midfielder Danny Drinkwater, who has played precisely 120 minutes of football since the start of last season.

A loan spell to Sean Dyche's Burnley promised to instil some much-needed discipline in the 29-year-old, a notion which has not gone to plan at all.

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COST AN ARN AND A LEG

Up front in the Worst XI for under performers in 2019 is Marko Arnautovic for a tumultuous final few months at West Ham.

An almost infinite number of statements, phoney apologies and contract extensions finally came to an end in the summer with a £22m switch to Shanghai SIPG.

Flanking Arnautovic is Barcelona flop Philippe Coutinho, a mega signing the Catalans went on to desperately flog even though they couldn't replace him with Neymar.

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And a good candidate to captain the side is our final entrant: Alexis Sanchez.

A shocking return of two goals in 27 games was far from fitting for one of the world's best players and it was no surprise to see a desperate United move him on for the new season.

Finally, while Jurgen Klopp was a deserved choice for The Best Coach of the Year, Thierry Henry takes our honour as coach of the Worst XI after winning four of his 20 games of a terrible spell in the Monaco dugout.

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