The final week of February matches in world football brought forth many stellar showings from footballers around the world’s top leagues, with the best of the best earning their place on the EA FC 25 Team of the Week 25. With goals by the bagful — even by those chosen to more defensive positions on the pitch — it was an exciting week and all the players who made the final cut were well-deserving of their place on the team, even if some others who missed out could say the same.
Come along as we look at five of the performances from this week’s team we found most fun, as well as one name that was a surprise omission.
EA FC 25 Team of the Week 25 Highlights
Granit Xhaka Makes It All Work For Leverkusen
In a clash between the the top sides in Germany, Bayer Leverkusen midfielder Granit Xhaka turned in a quintessential Xhaka performance. Breathtaking attacking passes to split the opposition wide open and create chances? Check, highlighted by both a lovely assist in the 26th minute and an even more beautiful hockey assist on Leverkusen’s third. Tireless running and defensive endeavor in the midfield to keep Frankfurt from ever acquiring much of a toehold in the game? Check. A little bit of argy-bargy that escalated a situation just a touch more than it probably needed to be escalated? You know that’s a check.
The career resurgence of Xhaka — which began with his masterful work in closing out his Arsenal career before effortlessly translating to Leverkusen’s shocking title run last season — shows little sign of abating with the Swiss workhorse continuing to be a crucial part of one of the top sides in world football today.
Mika Biereth Never Has To Buy Another Football In His Life
The bad news for Monaco in February is that they proved utterly incapable of winning a game unless new signing Mika Biereth provided a trio of goals to the effort. The good news for Monaco in February is that means they won three of their five games. The bad news for Biereth last weekend was a seeming inability to get a chance from outside the six-yard box. The good news for Biereth is he seemed capable of generating such chances seemingly at will, scoring them more often than not.
With a healthy mix of receiving passes and pouncing on loose opportunities, Biereth was a one-man wrecking crew that the Reims defensive players will be having nightmares about after Monaco’s 3-0 win. If history is precedent, expect a quiet game from Biereth next time out before he finds his way back here the week after with his fourth hat trick in red and white.
Judith Coquet Powers Montpellier To Victory
With the EA FC 25 Team of the Week spotllight being on women this time around, it’s hard to argue Judith Coquet didn’t earn her spot. Like Biereth, Coquet plies her trade in France’s top flight, and like Biereth, she turned in a casual hat trick on the weekend, albeit with a bit more mileage behind her strikes. After opening the scoring with a lobbed ball from the top of the box to catch out Reims keeper Kayza Massey, Coquet hit the double with a lovely redirected finish on a low fizzed cross into the danger area.
To round out her hat trick, Coquet returned to the top of the box, but this time went for power over poise. Acting first to pounce on a ball rolling out to the top of the 18, Coquet put her foot through it to bury the ball in the far corner and secure her own match ball. While Montpellier find themselves among the group of mid table sides firmly ensconced below the table’s top three but well clear of any threat of a bottom finish, a great day out like this is always worth enjoying.
Ronald Araujo Is Back
After missing more than half the season with an injury picked up during Uruguay’s Copa America Quarterfinal clash with Brazil last summer, Ronald Araujo has been back in action for Barcelona since the New Year. Unfortunately, he needed further time on the sidelines following a tweak in a match against Sevilla in early February, which he was finally ready to return from last weekend. Blaugrana fans will be happy for that should he carry on playing like he did in a dominant showing against Real Sociedad.
Araujo was an ever-present pest and wall when Sociedad made its forays forward, breaking up play and getting the ball back into Barcelona possession where they proved to be a menace all day for the Sociedad side as the club put four past them. For his part, Araujo had a hand in two of Barcelona’s goals, with a goal and an assist for the defensive stalwart. With the job settled, Araujo made an early exit as Barcelona opted for the sensible route of working him back into playing shape carefully, as a healthy Araujo could be a key cog in a competitive three-team race for the La Liga title.
Dominik Szoboszlai Cannot Stop Scoring
Last week, I touched on how Dominik Szoboszlai — a player often praised for doing the little things that don’t show up on match recaps — tried his hand at being a bit of an offensive powerhouse for Liverpool. Unfortunately, that came in the “Who Was Overlooked?” section as it was still not enough to earn a spot on the Team of the Week. I also noted he was already on his way to getting on this week’s team after netting the winner in Liverpool’s 2-0 defeat of Newcastle, which served to further cement their place as champions in waiting after chasers Arsenal and Nottingham Forest dropped maximum points in a draw against each other.
Sure enough, here he is this week, being rewarded for two straight weeks of excellent play that has been impossible to miss, all while still seeing to the fine details that make his play so integral to what this Liverpool side can do when it’s operating at its best. They look, by any measure, to be the best club in the world right now, and Szoboszlai’s play is a vital component of that excellence.
Who Was Overlooked? – Isco Alarcon (Real Betis)
Playing against a former club can always be an intriguing challenge for a player, particularly a veteran now plying their trade at a side smaller than that of their former employer. After nine seasons as a Madridista, and a brief jaunt in Sevilla, Isco proved to be no small thorn in the side of his former team as Real Betis handed Real Madrid a 2-1 defeat, further denting Madrid’s title aspirations. First, Isco saw to erasing Madrid’s 1-0 lead from a corner kick. His deliciously placed ball into the six found the head of American Johnny Cardoso to knot things up again in Seville.
While that blow may have wounded Madrid hearts, it was his confident penalty — blasting the ball past Thibaut Courtois despite the latter’s accurate guess on placement — that truly stuck the knife in. The goal handed Betis a lead they would never relinquish, extending Madrid’s woeful run to just one win in five, a stretch which has seen Los Blancos’ seven and four-point leads over Barcelona and Atletico Madrid turn into three and two-point deficits instead. More importantly to Green & White supporters, the win came in a week where the next eight clubs in the table dropped points, helping Betis grab onto sole possession of the second Europa League spot.
As always, there were simply too many wonderful performances for everyone worthy of a spot to find their way onto the Team of the Week, let alone this piece. Who was your favorite star of the week that didn’t make the cut but you think should have been here?
Published: Mar 6, 2025 01:06 pm