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Football

28th Jan 2016

David Silva has every right to be annoyed at Pablo Zabaleta’s dream five-a-side selection

Ivan de la Pena?

Darragh Murphy

What on Earth has David Silva done to deserve Pablo Zabaleta’s ire?

Silva, largely regarded as one of the best midfielders in the world, has been left out of the dream five-a-side of Manchester City teammate Zabaleta.

Manchester City v Wigan Athletic - Premier League

You’d excuse his exclusion if he had been been shut out because Zabaleta had favoured Yaya Toure or Kevin de Bruyne, or international teammates like Angel di Maria or Ezequiel Lavezzi.

Rather, Zabaleta has given the nod to 39-year-old midfielder Iván de la Peña, with whom Zabaleta played for three years at Espanyol.

There can be no real complaints from anyone about the rest of the right back’s five-a-side picks as he selected Joe Hart in goal and Lionel Messi and Sergio Aguero up front.

Perhaps the only other contentious selection is the decision to pick Javier Mascherano ahead of Vincent Kompany but we’re not really going to grumble about that.