Ranking the 30 players who'll decide Champions League final - ESPN

Everyone knows Real Madrid are a heavy favorite to win the Champions League for an even-bigger-record 15th time Saturday.

They're Real Madrid, of course, and they're taking on Borussia Dortmund, who just finished fifth in the German Bundesliga. Per ESPN BET, Madrid have a 75% chance of lifting the trophy, while Dortmund are 1-in-4 to win their second European Cup. That makes Madrid somewhere close to the biggest favorite of the past 20 years.

But it's still only one game, and anything can happen. Just ask Manchester City, who were taken down in the 2021 Champions League final by Chelsea, the team that finished fourth in their same league. Or Bayern Munich, who also fell to Chelsea in 2012, the year that the Blues finished sixth in the Premier League team. Or, heck, Man City, who lost the FA Cup last week to Manchester United, a team that finished in eighth place in the Premier League, just days after City won the same league.

These single-game finals tend to be decided by individual moments — whether greatness or error — from individual players rather than tactical triumphs. So, ahead of Saturday's Champions League final, let's rank the 30 best players between these two teams who will decide the next Champions League winner.

Somehow, a young, flashy, uber-productive, trophy-winning Brazilian winger for Real Madrid has become… underrated? While his defensive impact has started to wane as he has aged closer to his prime years of 24 to 28, he's the best player in the world at perhaps the deepest position in the world: left wing.

No one's better at carrying the ball, and no one who comes close to his ball-carrying contribution can also come close to his attacking production. He impacts every game he plays, and I'm not