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This brand spanking new My Favourite XI is from Rob Marrs, the author of Left Back in the Changing Room. When Rob submitted his team, he explained that he’s focused on players he was able to see ‘as live’, and also found it difficult to resist picking eleven creative midfielders. He’s not the only one.

Previous Favourite XI: Danny Walsh
Next Favourite XI: Rob Langham

Goalkeeper: Bruce Grobbelaar (Zimbabwe)

Yes, a controversial choice because of his extra-curricular activities but a real hero for Liverpool fans when I was growing up and a stalwart of a series of successful seasons at the club. I remember a leaping save where he changed direction in mid-air - something I’ve seen few people do since.

Right Back: Cafu (Brazil)

The Pendolino, the most-capped Brazilian of all time, re-defined the position of right-back. He won everything in the game and would add fizz and zizz to any team. A phenomenal player.

Centre Back: Fernando Hierro (Spain)

Hierro could play as both a centre-back and a defensive midfielder. He’s everything I want from a centre back. An individual with great passing ability, great reading of the game and a defender who scored over 100 goals.

Centre Back: Marcel Desailly (France)

Like his centre back partner, Desailly could play in both midfield and defence. I remember, vividly, him scoring in the 1994 Champions League final when Milan utterly destroyed Barcelona. He was a graceful player and hard as nails - one of the few defenders who wasn’t afraid to head forward by taking people on. A great reader of the game and one of four very talented defenders in this team.

Left Back: Bixente Lizarazu (France)

I will concede that Paolo Maldini was a finer defender but I always enjoyed Lizarazu - I liked his style, I liked his name, I’m fascinated by the Basque country. He’ll be remembered as solid but that’s a slur on his abilities. He was a fine attacking full back.

Right Midfield: Dejan Savicevic (Yugoslavia/Serbia & Montenegro)

Surely one of the most under-rated players of the 1990s - a wonderful player for Red Star and AC Milan. I’ve long been an enormous fan of ‘The Genius’ - skillful, full of tricks and the most wondrous close control. He wasn’t afraid to hold on to the ball for extended periods and would often toy with full backs. He was happy to turn a defender three, four or five times back and forward. I also love a winger who isn’t afraid to slow down or even stop - few do, and it is such an effective tactic. Watching the way he goes past players is a joy.

Centre Midfield: Xavi (Spain)

Watching Xavi is like watching porn for football fans. He is the life, the heart and the soul of the current Barcelona team. His understanding of the game is second to none playing the game and his understanding of space is truly astonishing. He is the man who keeps the plates spinning - he’s a must.

Centre Midfield: Fernando Redondo (Argentina)

Xavi was a given but there were so many other contenders - Riquelme, Rui Costa, Molby, Mostovoi - but I’ve gone for Redondo. I’m tempted to pick him for ‘The Backheel of Old Trafford’. I mean, how many so called defensive midfielders can do this:

He was more than that backheel and should be remembered more widely and more fondly. He was man of the match that evening dominating one of the finest midfields ever to grace European football.

Left Midfield: John Barnes (England)

I loved Hagi and very nearly selected him (like Lizarazu/Maldini, I know there are better players - Hagi, Iniesta etc) but my favourite player as a child was John Barnes. One of a number of players who never turned it on at England level (or, more correctly, didn’t do it regularly - see also Hoddle, Scholes, Le Tissier etc). At his finest he was a devastatingly good player. He scored over 100 goals for Liverpool, scored arguably the best ever England goal, and there’s an argument that had he been brought on earlier England would have beaten Argentina in 1986. None of that matters. For twentysomething Liverpool fans he means so much more. No one in the world came close.

Striker: Marco van Basten (Netherlands)

There are some players who should be appreciated for the sheer aesthetic beauty that they bring to the game. The Swan of Utrecht was one such player - a goal machine but so much more than that. At both Ajax (152 goals in 172) and Milan (125 goals in 198) he scored heavily but it was how van Basten played the game that was so inspiring. No other striker since has come close.

Striker: Roberto Baggio (Italy)

A wonderful player and, for a time, the best player in the world - probably the finest between Maradona and the rise of Zidane. It is a tragedy of the game that he won’t be remembered for his consistent excellence, his wonder-goal against Czechoslovakia in 1990 or dragging Italy to the 1994 World Cup Final. No, he’ll be remembered for his Jonny Wilkinson effort to lose Italy the World Cup.

Substitutes:

Lots to choose from but I’ll pick a handful.

Juan Roman Riquelme

The blogosphere’s favourite player. We all adore him. His vision is a joy to behold. He’s such a throwback that we should cherish him.

Hugo Sanchez

I could go on and on but basically just for his bicycle kicks and turbo-charged volleys.

Ruud Gullit

A real Total Footballer who can play anywhere on the pitch. Picking between him and Redondo was terrible.

Jari Litmanen

I hope history is kind to Jari. A gifted player who was the brains of the great Ajax team of the mid-1990s. Like so many of the players here he was a fine touch and technique player. One of the few players who could run a game from the front.

Tags: Bixente Lizarazu, Bruce Grobbelaar, Cafu, Dejan Savicevic, Fernando Hierro, Fernando Redondo, Hugo Sanchez, Jari Litmanen, John Barnes, Juan Roman Riquelme, Marcel Desailly, Marco van Basten, Roberto Baggio, Ruud Gullit, Xavi