DAVID ALABA is star of 2021 ahead of Ruben Dias with Lionel Messi' 24th in analysts' quirky list

Real Madrid’s central defender David Alaba has been named as the Player of the Year for 2021 by football analysts, with the Ballon d’Or winner Lionel Messi down in 24th place.

The CIES football observatory has provided an alternative take on the enduring debate over the best footballers in the world.

While the Ballon d’Or is decided according to performance and behaviour on and off the pitch with the winner voted by coaches, players and journalists, CIES have crunched the numbers and considered who makes the greatest contribution to the best teams in the world.

The data scientists at the Swiss observatory have combined the playing time of footballers and the sporting level of the teams for which they played, or the competitions they participated in, to create an overall score and ranking.

It highlights players who may not grab the headlines, but who play week in, week out, at an exceptionally high level and are integral to their team’s success.

In that regard, it is hard to imagine a more worthy winner than Austrian international, David Alaba.

Alaba was a record-breaking performer for Bayern Munich, where he amassed 27 trophies, including 10 Bundesliga championships during 11 years, and it is highly likely he is going to earn another hatful of titles at his new club, Real Madrid.

Last season, Bayern won their ninth Bundesliga title in a row and reached the quarter finals of the Champions League with Alaba missing just three matches in both competitions.

And he has made an impressive start in Madrid, too, in the latter stages of this calendar year.

Alaba is not often the main man. His accolades tend to be team based, even his individual honours. He has made teams of the year for UEFA, Champions League, Fifpro and in the Bundesliga, in an illustrious career.

So, who could begrudge him this quirky Player of the Year award? It is perfect for him, implicitly recognising his consistent performances and fitness.

While Lionel Messi and Robert Lewandowski battled it out for Ballon d’Or honours, Alaba was holding it all together for Bayern.

Messi’s showing in the CIES analysis has been hit by Barcelona’s round of 16 exit in last year’s Champion’s League and his patchy appearances following a move to Paris Saint-Germain this season. He only played in five of the first 13 Ligue 1 matches.

Ballon d'Or Shortlist 2021

Meanwhile, Messi’s Ballon d’Or rival and Bayern Munich’s ageless talisman, Robert Lewandowski, is 17th in the listing.

When on the pitch the Pole was in devastating form, but he missed a clutch of matches because of a ligament injury in the league and Champions League last spring, which affected his overall score.

Lewandowski scored 130 goals in 108 games since the start of the 2019/20 season and was considered extremely unlucky to miss out on the prestigious title to Messi, who controversially claimed his seventh Ballon d’Or.

Players shortlisted for the 2021 Ballon D’Or are well represented in the CIES list. City’s Ruben Dias is second, Real Madrid’s Karim Benzema sixth and PSG's, Kylian Mbappe 15th.

But the unsung heroes dominate. Inter Milan’s central defender, Milan Skriniar, is ranked third, Real Madrid’s holding midfielder Carlos Casemiro fourth and Bayern Munich’s Joshua Kimmich fifth.

Here Sportsmail celebrates those players who may not be in the limelight, but always deliver.

David Alaba

David Alaba is a coach’s dream. For much of last season, he anchored the centre of the defence for Bayern Munich and launched the team forwards with intelligent, progressive passes. But he also played centrally, defensively and on the left side of midfield, as well as left back.

Typically, he has adapted to La Liga, following his free transfer to Real Madrid, on the conclusion of his contract in Germany. It took a few games for Alaba and Eder Militao to settle at the heart of the Los Blancos back line, but now they have stemmed the early flow of goals and fans are starting to appreciate the Austrian’s leadership qualities, following the departure of Sergio Ramos.

Italian World Cup winner, Fabio Cannavaro, who also won La Liga twice with Real Madrid, is among Alaba’s fans.

‘He's come from an offensive team like Bayern, where he defended high with a lot of demands,’ said Cannavaro earlier this season. ‘He's used to it all. He's a great player, versatile, shoots well, leads. He's a great signing because he's a guarantee.’

Ruben Dias

Ruben Dias, deserves to be in any Player of the Year ranking. His quality can be seen in the impact he has had on Manchester City since his arrival from Benfica for £60M in September.

In short, he has transformed the team’s defensive displays and those around him and he was a key element in City’s Premier League triumph last season and their march to the final of the Champions League.

When he came in, City had attracted a reputation for being vulnerable at the back, with their full backs pushed on. Leicester City had pulled off a stunning counter-attacking 5-2 win at the Etihad.

In a fluid side like City, the centre-backs have got to be good with the ball, but also be great defenders. And Dias has it all.

In his 50 appearances for the Blues last season, City kept a clean sheet in half of them and conceded just one goal every other game, on average.

Dias contribution to City’s success was recognised in an award from the Football Writers’ Association and he was named the Premier League Player of the Year.

Milan Skriniar

The name of Milan Skriniar may not trip off the tongue of British football fans, but he is high on the list of targets in many Premier League recruitment departments.

The Slovak not only piled up the minutes on the pitch for Inter Milan in the last year, despite a bout of coronavirus, but he has also been an outstanding performer.

Inter swept to their first Serie A title in 11 years under former boss Antonio Conte, ending Juventus' nine-year dominance as Italian champions.

And Skriniar, who has attracted interest from Newcastle and Tottenham, was a key component of that successful team. Reportedly out of favour early in the season he worked his way into Conte’s plans and helped to keep 13 clean sheets in the 32 games he played, losing just two.

A solid defender, Skriniar has won rave reviews in the Italian press for the quality of his defensive work and he is also rated as one of the best passers of the ball among Serie A defenders

Carlos Casemiro

For a player who is reportedly out of favour with Real Madrid boss, Carlo Ancelotti, and club president, Florentino Perez, Carlos Casemiro is enjoying a lot of game time.

Spanish newspaper, El Nacional, sparked transfer rumours last week by suggesting the holding midfielder was surplus to requirements, with Thomas Tuchel a suitor and Chelsea a potential destination.

Two days later, Casemiro played a key role in Ancelotti’s tactical masterclass to defeat city rivals, Atletico Madrid, two nil.

The Brazilian was praised by other sections of the Spanish press as the ‘glue’ that held together the defensive shape of Los Blancos and for freeing up space for team mates as Real played out from the back.

These are turbulent times at the Bernabeu as the club comes to terms with its more modest financial position and finishing second in La Liga to Atletico last season.

But despite the off-field chatter, Casemiro has clocked up 1,331 minutes in 16 appearances in La Liga this term and would appear to be settling in for another successful season with Real 12 points clear of Sevilla at the top of the table.

Joshua Kimmich

Joshua Kimmich’s impact for Bayern Munich stands out on the rare occasions the midfielder is not playing.

‘Replacing Kimmich is almost impossible,’ according to the German football website, BavarianFootballWorks.

In a dominant team, like Bayern, the loss of one player is not always seen in individual results.

However, since Kimmich’s debut for Bayern in 2015, the 26-year-old has played in 270 games with a win rate of 78 percent and Bayern scored an average of 2.8 goals per game. Without Kimmich, Bayern achieved a win rate of just 64 percent and scored just 2.3 goals per game.

Last season, Bayern were better defensively with Kimmich in the team, but also offensively, scoring more goals per game, creating more chances, and having more shots.

Unusually, Kimmich had some time out with a knee injury and in total missed seven Bundesliga matches during which the champions only kept one clean sheet, compared to the eight achieved when he was in the side.

But the German champions are having to learn to live without Kimmich now. The player’s uncertainty over taking the coronavirus vaccine has resulted in him missing two Champions League games and four Bundesliga matches through quarantine, illness and complications from the virus.

He is not going to play again for the rest of this year, due to fluid on the lung.