Ramos also relegates Van Dijk to fourth place on the list of players with the best Physicality in the game and the two players ahead of him may come as a surprise. The Real Madrid captain currently costs less than half as many coins to acquire as the Liverpool defender. Ramos has better Balance and Agility than Van Dijk and significantly outscores the Dutchman for Acceleration. The FIFA 18 Team of the Season is arriving in a few weeks but there’s a twist. Good defensive attributes are obviously important for centre-backs but they are useless if they can not manoeuvre themselves into position.

Sergio Ramos' new 'Team of the Season' card has a higher average rating in this category than the equivalent Virgil Van Dijk one released last week and is only bettered by Paolo Maldini's 'Icon Moments' edition. In addition to boasting the player with the second-best Shooting statistics in the game, Real Madrid also have the man with the second-highest Defending stats. Sergio Ramos is among the most physical in the game (Nick Potts/PA) His underlying Dribbling stats are almost as impressive and are only bettered by one player – Sergio Aguero fares marginally better in this regard, with better Balance and Reactions making the difference. While Messi's 99 Shooting rating masks some minor imperfections, the total of his Passing stats is higher than those of any other player in the game, including Kevin De Bruyne's monster 'Team of the Season' upgrade. Looking at the average of these more detailed numbers, the Real Madrid striker is second only to Eusebio's 'Icon Moments' card for his all-round finishing ability. Meanwhile Karim Benzema's new card has a 98 rating for Shooting but matches or outscores the 99-rated Messi in five of the six underlying stats. As the attributes rise proportionally, the Barcelona star's 'Team of the Season' card still has a Shot Power rating of 92 despite having 99 for Shooting overall.

For example, Messi's base card has an overall Shooting rating of 92 but his Shot Power is lower at 86. However the maths behind these upgrades is quite complicated as the underlying attributes of each new card follows the shape of the player's original statistics.

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