Robben and Neuer hailed by peers

Yet another prestigious accolade has come the way of Arjen Robben and Manuel Neuer. In the traditional half-yearly poll among German professional players conducted by respected weekly journal kicker, Robben was named best outfield player and Neuer best goalkeeper of the season so far, both men winning the vote by a substantial margin. 46.7 percent of the 240 Bundesliga players in the survey voted for Robben and no fewer than 56.3 percent for Neuer, a result kicker described as “like being knighted”.

Lahm and Alonso earn world-class status

Two FCB stars have also topped another widely-observed kicker classification. In its German football rankings for the season to date, the magazine named Philipp Lahm and Xabi Alonso as the only Bundesliga players worthy of the world-class label in the defensive midfield category. In the attacking midfield category, Mario Götze came second and earned the international class tag.