Five World Cup stars from Groups A-D: City, Chelsea, United stars feature

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Manchester City midfielder Yaya Toure, Manchester United striker Robin van Persie, Chelsea star Oscar and more feature.

With Groups A-D concluded, here are the statistical stars from the World Cup group games.

Best Dribblers

As Opta stats show, one man shone above all else in Groups A-D with the ball at his feet: Alexis Sanchez. Half of Sanchez’s succesful dribbles came in Chile’s final game against the Netherlands.

However, Premier League interest is represented by Manchester City man Yaya Toure, who won 10 dribbles despite Ivory Coast’s poor showing in Group C.

Neymar, Arjen Robben and James Rodriguez complete a hugely impressive list.

Most Clinical

In front of goal, Neymar, Robben and Rodriguez feature once again, although the Colombian’s accuracy was less impressive despite his tally of three goals.

A new man enters the bidding here, though, in Manchester United’s Robin van Persie. Despite playing just twice, the 30-year-old scored three times, hitting the target with 3/4 of his shots. With the clinical Robben and van Persie, can the Netherlands finally go all the way this time around?

Best Passers

No Premier League interests make the list in this category. Indeed, Sergio Busquets leads the way in true tiki-taka style, though the Barcelona man could be accused of making the majority of his passes backwards or sideways.

Ivory Coast’s Serey Die could be considered the most impressive, however, as his passing accuracy were consistent over three games.

Italy’s first appearance is also in this area, though Andrea Pirlo is beaten by the younger Marco Verratti in terms of accuracy not total number.

Best Crossers

Though no player delivered a truly high number of crosses without a considerably lower overall accuracy, the best crossers in Groups A-D still set the bar reasonably high.

Southampton’s Gaston Ramirez, for instance, and team-mate Cristian Rodriguez, were accurate with both of their crosses in the group stages – particularly impressive for Ramirez considering he played just 12 minutes.

Andres Iniesta had the highest number combined with accuracy and Fulham’s Bryan Ruiz made two of his three.

Best Tacklers

Finally, we have the top tacklers from Groups A-D and a Chelsea star tops the list. With such a high number of won challenges, Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho may be pleased to see his young midfielder offering so much from a defensive perspective.

Elsewhere from Brazil, Dani Alves features, while Cristian Gamboa represents Costa Rica and Daley Blind feature for the Netherlands. The 24-year-old has been linked with a summer move and could be plying his trade in the Premier League next season.