Football Starting XI Logic Puzzle Walkthrough

Starting XI: Football Logic Puzzle Answer Key

Step 1: Read the ‘More Info’ and Play the Quiz (very important) 

Step 2: Messi reveals the first clue, and he also reveals that he will start the game. He states that the goalkeeper with more clean sheets will start the game, Manuel Neuer or Gianluigi Buffon.
When you look at the statistics, Buffon currently has more clean sheets than Neuer. Buffon has 501 clean sheets, while Manuel Neuer currently has 300+. 

Step 3: Gianluigi Buffon starts and he reveals a hint that another keeper goes to the bench. That is where Manuel Neuer comes in. 

Step 4: Manuel Neuer is benched, and he reveals that two German defenders will start the game. Those players are Franz Beckenbauer and Philipp Lahm. 

Step 5: Franz Beckenbauer reveals that one player is on the bench, while Philipp Lahm states that no one in the corner is left out. So, Zinedine Zidane and Cristiano Ronaldo are in the starting XI. 

Step 6: Zinedine Zidane says that this team will have no central defensive midfielders (CDMs). There is only one CDM here, and that is Sergio Busquets. 

Cristiano Ronaldo states that one left out player is adjacent to two of his teammates who he played with at both club and country. Thomas Muller is the only option here because he is adjacent diagonally with Manuel Neuer and Philipp Lahm. (They played together at Bayern Munich and the German national team.) Muller said that there is one left out Brazilian. 

Step 7: We look at Sergio Busquets’ clue. He said that all of the Ronaldos are playing but only one is starting. We all know that Cristiano Ronaldo is starting, and there are two other Ronaldos in the grid: Ronaldo Nazario and Ronaldo de Assis Moreira (Ronaldinho). 

Step 8: Ronaldo Nazario’s clue states that there is at least one benched player per row. Since there are 4 players in the bottom row that will either start or be left out, Johan Cruyff is the player going to the bench. 

Ronaldinho’s clue states that they are playing in a 433 formation with one attacking midfielder. So far, your formation should like this:

Football Formation Creator Link: Football Formation Creator - Make Your Team and Share Tactics (buildlineup.com)

Step 9: You may think that you’re stuck. But don’t worry, with this formation we can identify and predict which players we’ll have on our team. Next up, there is only one striker/centre forward who is not picked yet, and this formation is in need of a striker. The only option we have is Pele. 

Step 10: Pele said that a Ballon D’or winner did not make the team. The Ballon D’or winner that has no place yet is 2018 Ballon D’or winner Luka Modric. 

Step 11: Luka Modric said that the least international caps for Spain is also out of the team. Out of the 5 Spanish players, Carles Puyol only has 100 caps for the national team. 

Step 12: Carles Puyol said no left backs were left out. This means neither Roberto Carlos nor Cafu are out of the team. However, Lahm is already starting for the team, this means Cafu is going to the bench. 

Step 13: Cafu said that only one Brazilian is starting. This means that Roberto Carlos gets benched while Paolo Maldini starts at left-back. This also means that Neymar Jr. is the only Brazilian left and going back to Thomas Muller’s clue, he will NOT be part of the team. 

Step 14: Maldini’s clue reveals that four defenders are either benched or left out. He also said that two of them are benched, meaning two of those defenders are out of the team. 

Since Roberto Carlos and Cafu are already in the bench, We are left with Sergio Ramos and Virgil van Dijk. But when we go back to Johan Cruyff’s clue, “No one is starting in this column.” This means that Virgil van Dijk will be left out of the team and Sergio Ramos will start. 

Step 15: Ramos’ clue states that South American players who played in Europe but did NOT win at least a single UCL title will be benched. R9 is from Brazil, he played for teams like Barcelona, Real Madrid, Inter, Milan etc. but did not win the title. But we know he’s already benched. The other South American player who did not win the UCL trophy despite playing for Napoli and Barcelona is the Argentinian Diego Maradona. 

Step 16: Look back at your starting XI formation and look at your list. It seems that we have completed the seven bench players. The team is no longer in need of another attacking midfielder and the bench is already full so we will leave David Beckham out. 

Step 17: Xavi and Iniesta are the only ones left and both of them will definitely start the game.

This is what the starting XI should look like. 

The bench players are: Manuel Neuer, Ronaldo Nazario, Cafu, Ronaldinho, Roberto Carlos, Johan Cruyff, and Diego Maradona 

The players who were left out are: Sergio Busquets, Neymar Jr., Thomas Muller, Luka Modric, Virgil van Dijk, Carles Puyol, and David Beckham