Sportsmail continues its countdown of the top 50 footballers of the DECADE – 20

Three World Cups, six different Champions League winners and countless memorable matches and performances. The 2010s have been a decade littered with footballing brilliance.

As the decade comes to a close, Sportsmail asked our team of reporters: who have been their players of the 2010s? The results, formed of 27 responses tallied up to make up a top 50 players, will be published over the next five days.

Can Cristiano Ronaldo‘s four European Cup wins and international success propel him above the mercurial brilliance of Lionel Messi? Which Premier League stars will mix it with the best from LaLiga? And where will the World Cup winners rank compared to the stars of the Champions League?

The latest batch of names, placing in from 20 to 11, includes a 21-year-old World Cup winner, a Brazilian who lifted 26 trophies this decade and a jewel in Manchester City‘s crown. Keep checking back on MailOnline across the last five days of the decade for the full list.

20. Arjen Robben – Bayern Munich, Holland

This Flying Dutchman had a signature move that few others could rival. 

He would loiter wide on the right, collect a pass from a team-mate before cutting inside and firing in on his left foot with deadly precision. It was utterly predictable but turned into one of the most unstoppable moves in football over the decade.

Try as they might, defenders simply could not keep the Bayern Munich veteran off that famed left of his and the damage was frequent and devastating. 

Rightly considered one of the best wingers in the world in the 2010s, Robben went on to lift eight Bundesliga titles, five German Cups, five German Super Cups, one Champions League, one UEFA Super Cup and finished in UEFA’s Team of the Year twice. 

His formidable ‘Roberry’ partnership with Franck Ribery showed the effectiveness of out-and-out wingers in a system and Bayern are still on the hunt for a player capable of replacing him.  

Arjen Robben was formidable with Bayern Munich and helped them deliver a raft of major titles

He was naturally left-footed but defenders could not stop him cutting inside to find the net

19. Kylian Mbappe – Monaco, PSG, France

When the duopoly of Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo ends, all eyes will be on whether Kylian Mbappe takes the throne. 

He has everything in his arsenal to suggest he can be the new king. The new benchmark by which others are judged against. 

It is easy to forget Mbappe is still 21 and already has over 100 club career goals. Add into that three Ligue 1 titles – his first in his breakout season with AS Monaco in 2016-17 –  and the 2018 World Cup and Mbappe already has a CV and trophy cabinet many in the world of football could only dream of. 

Likened to a young Thierry Henry, Mbappe’s fearlessness is one of his biggest assets and he seems to thrive on the biggest stages.  

The best is definitely yet to come and fast forward to this list in a decade’s time, Mbappe is a strong candidate to be No 1.  

Kylian Mbappe is…