European Team of the Season: Central midfield - Alejandro Gomez (Atalanta)

There were suggestions that Alejandro Gomez needed to leave Atalanta at the end of last season to get Champions League football but the Argentina international’s loyalty to La Dea has been vindicated this time around. Atalanta remarkably secured third place in Serie A and Champions League football for next season on the final weekend of the 2018/19 campaign with a 3-1 win over Sassuolo, with Gomez fittingly scoring one and assisting another.

Gomez’s display last weekend was almost enough to dethrone Cristiano Ronaldo as the highest WhoScored rated player in the division. The 31-year-old finished the campaign with seven goals and 11 assists in Serie A, while also raking up seven WhoScored Man of the Match awards. His goal contributions were worth 11 points to Atalanta.

Furthermore, no player in Europe’s top five leagues registered more key passes than Gomez this season (112). Twenty-two of those goalscoring opportunities were clear-cut chances, more than any other player in Serie A. Including the rest of Europe’s top five leagues and only Ryan Fraser (28) and Lionel Messi (34) created more big chances than Gomez. Only Udinese midfielder Rodrigo de Paul (11) completed more accurate through balls than Gomez (seven) in Italy’s top-flight this season, while the Atalanta talisman also ranked in the top three for most fouls won (93).