Steven Gerrard & Andrea Pirlo Top MLS Players in FIFA 16

Aug 23, 2015; Carson, CA, USA; Los Angeles Galaxy midfielder Steven Gerrard (8) in the second half of the game against New York City FC at StubHub Center. Galaxy won 5-1. Mandatory Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports
Aug 23, 2015; Carson, CA, USA; Los Angeles Galaxy midfielder Steven Gerrard (8) in the second half of the game against New York City FC at StubHub Center. Galaxy won 5-1. Mandatory Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports

EA Sports has made Steven Gerrard and Andrea Pirlo the highest rated Major League Soccer players in the newest installment of their ‘FIFA’ video game series.

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Both midfielders were given an overall rating of 84, which is three higher than last year’s top MLS player. In ‘FIFA 15’, Clint Dempsey was made the best player in MLS given a rating of 81. He remains an 81 this year, but slips all the way to 5th in terms of players in MLS.

Pirlo may have been given extra credit by EA Sports because of his admiration of video games. He made his love of Playstation clear in his autobiography “I think therefore I play”.

“After the wheel, the best invention is the PlayStation,” he said.

“Me against Nesta was a clasico of our time at Milanello,” Pirlo recalled. “We’d get in early, have breakfast at 9 then close ourselves off in our room to challenge each other, train, have lunch and then it was back in our room again until 4 in the afternoon. Our battles were pure adrenaline. I chose Barcelona, Sandrino did too. Barca against Barca. The first player I’d take was Samuel Eto’o, the fastest out of everyone, though I often lost. I’d become furious, I’d throw the joystick, demand a rematch and lose again, but I couldn’t use the excuse that the coach of his team was better than mine: Pep Guardiola for him and Pep Guardiola for me. At least on the bench we started equal.”

Pirlo is not the only Italian international in the top three, with Sebastian Giovinco also being rated 81 but ranked ahead of Dempsey on the official EA Sports website.

It is interesting to note that just three players in the top 10 were plying their trade in MLS prior to the 2015 season. Just the aforementioned Dempsey, Robbie Keane, and Michael Bradley, are in the top 10 and were playing in the league last season. A telling sign that the league is continuously growing and raising it’s international profile.

Here is the complete list of the top 20 rated players from MLS in FIFA 16:

Steven Gerrard         84
Andrea Pirlo              84
Stebastian Giovinco  81
Kaka                          81
Clint Dempsey           81
Didier Drogba            81
Robbie Keane           80
David Villa                 80
Andoni Iraola             80
Michael Bradley         80
Frank Lampard          79
Obafemi Martins        79
Giovani Dos Santos   79
Federico Higuain       78
Diego Valeri               78
Jermaine Jones         77
Ignacio Piatti              77
Osvaldo Alonso         77
Pedro Morales           77
Nick Rimando            76

Just a couple of weeks ago, both EA Sports and Major League Soccer provided fans the opportunity to vote for a special custom MLS cover for the game. The results have not yet been release, but you can read more about MLS and ‘FIFA 16’ on the league’s official site.

‘FIFA 16’ which will be released for PC, Xbox One, Xbox 360, PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 3, on September 22nd.