When the dust has settled on a football season, when the trophies have been lifted and the stadiums have fallen silent, all that is left are the memories, the statistics and the cold, hard facts of who won and who lost.
Outstanding individual achievements are enshrined in the awards handed out at the season’s end: top scorer, most clean sheets, player of the season and all the rest. But every now and again, whether because they played in an unglamorous position or were simply outshone by a rival, a player’s performances do not quite receive the level of recognition that they deserve
Selected from the last 10 years of European football, here are five players who weren't named Player of the Season but whose performances deserve to be celebrated all the same.