9 players of the Spanish national team are in the list of the 20 most mediatic players in the world. PHOTO: Courtesy

Leo Messi continues to be the world's most talked-about footballer. This season he has scored 23.7 points in media value, which puts him ahead of his great rival Cristiano Ronaldo, with 18.2 points. FC Barcelona is also the most media-worthy thanks to its La Liga and Champions League titles. This is according to the latest report of the group of Economics, Sport and Intangibles of the University of Navarra, which calculates media value by taking into account issue of appearances in the written press throughout the season in more than 120 countries.

In the ranking of the world's 10 most mediatic players, in addition to Messi, there are his teammates Xavi, Iniesta and Villa. Likewise, Pedro, Piqué and Dani Alves are among the 20 most mediatic players. This is a change from previous occasions when only Messi and Xavi were in the top 20. Real Madrid, meanwhile, has Cristiano Ronaldo, Casillas, Benzema and Özil among the most media-active players. The ranking includes 9 players from the Spanish national team, which can be explained by the positive effects of the World Cup.

Among the clubs, FC Barcelona and Madrid take the top positions, and despite the fact that the Merengue team has managed to close the gap, the Catalans take the first place among the most mediatic clubs. Manchester United, champions of the English league and finalists of the Champions League, took third place with 65.6 points. The surprise of the season is Manchester City, which has managed to break into the world elite with 40.8 points, compared to 12.2 in the previous edition, and which is in seventh position.

In the ranks of coaches, José Mourinho is the most popular (52.7 points), thus increasing his lead over second-placed Alex Ferguson (39.1). Pep Guardiola maintains third place worldwide with 30.7 points. ESI University of Navarra's analysis also reveals that the press reaction to the Portuguese coach's controversial press conference was negative, as Real Madrid's image was associated with negative brand values.

The April classics, "kings" of media impact

. On the other hand, report highlights that the concentration of the series of classics in three different competitions attracted the media's attention during that month. "For example, 45% of the news about footballers from the 10 most popular teams in the world made reference letter to Barcelona-Madrid, while in the rest of the season the proportion is 33%," said Francesc Pujol, lead author of report along with Quique Gallemí.

Thus, for Real Madrid, the four matches generated 20.6% of its total media impact for the season, while the impact for FC Barcelona was somewhat lower, 18%, because it later benefited from the impact of the Champions League final.