The 8 best players of European football Gameweek 37 – ranked

Although the majority of Europe’s title races have now been decided, players from across the continent still have plenty to play for in the final few weeks of the season.

Be it the opportunity to play in Europe next season, a new contract at their current club or a big-money move away, quite a few players have huge incentives to impress late in 2023/24.

Here’s the top eight players who impressed 90min the most on the continent this past weekend.

Unless you’re a Hoffenheim or Togo fan, chances are you haven’t heard of Ihlas Bebou before.

Bebou’s name deservedly hit the headlines over the weekend, however, thanks to his rather stunning outing for his club.

The wide forward gave his side a glimmer of hope of Europa League qualification heading into the final weekend of the 2023/24 season with a brace and assist in a thumping 6-0 win over Darmstadt. Nice one.

Perhaps the key reason why Real Madrid have been able to comfortably win La Liga while also reaching yet another Champions League final is their strength in depth.

That squad quality was once again on show over the weekend, with backup left-back Fran Garcia chipping in with a goal and an assist in a win over Granada.

Not many other clubs in Europe have reserves capable of doing that.

Ever since Jonathan David rocked up at LOSC Lille in 2020, the Canadian forward has done one thing: score goals.

David matched his career best tally at Lille this past weekend by netting his 25th and 26th goals of the season in all competitions.

Those goals were enough to earn a vital 2-1 win over Nantes – a win which has seen Lille rise up to third in the Ligue 1 table.

It’s pretty fair to say that Charles De Ketelaere’s first season in Serie A with AC Milan was an unmitigated disaster.

His second season in Italy’s top flight, while on loan at Atalanta, has been much, much better.

De Ketelaere was in particularly impressive form over the weekend, single-handedly besting a talented AS Roma side with a brace in Bergamo.

Did anyone in the world think that Josip Stanisic would randomly become the most clutch player in Europe in 2024?

We seriously doubt it.

And yet here we are, with the right wing-back netting important goal after important goal after important goal. Stanisic followed up a 97th-minute equaliser to retain Leverkusen’s unbeaten run in midweek before netting a goal and assist in the win over Bochum.

Christian Pulisic has performed admirably in his maiden Serie A campaign with AC Milan, bagging a career best 12 league goals in 2023/24.

Two of those goals came in perhaps a season-best performance at the weekend in a 5-1 win over Cagliari.

Isco picked up his 19th player of the match award in just 28 games over the weekend thanks to a goal and assist in a win over Almeria.

That is utterly absurd.

The creative midfielder’s career resurgence has been one of the best stories of the season in La Liga.

We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again:

Every time Brahim Diaz starts for Real Madrid, he stars.

He did it once again at the weekend, scoring two goals in the 4-0 win over Granada and proving why he might be the best backup attacking midfielder in world football right now.

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