No Juventus Player Makes It Into Opta’s Winter Serie A XI

Cristiano Ronaldo and his Juventus teammates have failed to make OptaPaolo's best Serie A XI for the winter part of the season.

The reigning Serie A champions are 15 points clear at the top of the table and only suffered their first league defeat of the season against Genoa on Sunday.

However, there's no spot for the former Manchester United and Real Madrid ace, despite being the second top scorer in the Italian league.

So, who has made it into OptaPaolo's team?

OptaPaolo has picked a 3-4-3 formation and AC Milan's highly rated Gianluigi Donnarumma has secured his spot between the sticks.

Joining Lazio's Francesco Acerbi in a three-man defensive line is Inter Milan's Stefan de Vrij and AC Milan's Alessio Romagnoli.

Napoli's Piotr Zieliński is partnered in midfield alongside Sampdoria's‏ Dennis Praet, with Atalanta's Alejandro Darío Gómez (AKA Papu) out on the left and Napoli's José Callejón out on the right.

And that leaves the trident attack force of the team, with Napoli's Arkadiusz Milik playing on the left and AC Milan's Krzysztof Piątek, who is level with Ronaldo in Serie A's top scorers this season, providing support from the right.

Atalanta's Duván Zapata, who has scored 17 times in the league this season and is fourth in Serie A's top scorers, leading the line.

Of course, AC Milan and Napoli are both tied with the most players in the team at three each.

There is also no spot for Sampdoria forward Fabio Quagliarella, who has been in scintillating form and is the top scorer in Serie A this season.

But hey, this is based on the winter part of the season.

It's not the first time that Ronaldo has been snubbed by OptaPaolo, mainly for how he was omitted from the best Serie A XI back in February.

While the five-time Ballon d'Or winner fired his side into the quarter-finals of the Champions League after he scored a brilliant hat-trick against Atlético Madrid, he could be banned from the next match in the competition for his use of Diego Simeone's celebration.

Agree or disagree with OptaPaolo's team?

Let us know in the comments.

Featured Image Credit: PA

Topics: Football News, Lazio, Football, Serie A, genoa, Atalanta, AC Milan, Gianluigi Donnarumma, Juventus, Napoli, Cristiano Ronaldo, Inter Milan

Adnan Riaz

Adnan Riaz is a journalist for SPORTbible. He studied for a B.A. in History at the University of York and followed it up with an M.A. in Multimedia Journalism at MMU. Before he started writing about sports, he spent over four years in the gaming press. He has worked for several publications, including Hardcore Gamer, LADbible and the Manchester Evening News. Follow him on Twitter to find out what he is working on next. Got a story tip for Adnan? Email him: [email protected]

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