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To say something or someone is the best or most we use 最, but how about second, third, fourth best/most etc?
For example:
He's the second most expensive player in football history. He kept the third most clean sheets in the Premier League this season.
What structure should be used to express these ideas?
Ignore the translation for "Most/Best" if it's not the top one
He's the most expensive player in football history
他是足球历史上最贵的选手
He's the second most expensive player in football history
他是足球历史上第二贵的选手
He's the third most expensive player in football history
他是足球历史上第三贵的选手
You can find it's using "第二贵" instead of "第二最贵"
In Chinese when talking about "最" it usually referring only the top ONE.
第一最贵. 第几 and 最 rarely go together.
Second: 第二[名]
Third: 第三[名]
etc
for second sometimes you will see 次 or 亚 like: 次好、次优、亚军
You can use 伯,仲,叔,季 or 孟,仲,叔,季 to mean first,second,third,forth. These terms come from the ordering of siblings. The first set of 伯,仲,叔,季 is the ordering of male sibilings and 孟,仲,叔,季 is the of the female siblings.
Note that these terms are quite formal. And the original meaning of ordering of siblings is also outdated (it's like some old time Chinese custom where you have everyone's place in family hierarchy specified)
A 成語, 伯仲之間, means that two are equally matched. It means literally "between the oldest brother and second oldest brother". e.g. 今年NBA決賽的兩隊真是伯仲之間啊！
But in your case, @Doubble22's answer is most appropriate. 第+number+adjective is most common expression here.
Edit#1: Also, 冠,亞,季,殿 is more common. It's widely used to refer to first place, second place, third place, and forth place in some competition. The person who got first place, second place, third place, or forth place is call 冠軍,亞軍,季軍,殿軍.
Edit#2: Also in a exam or test, first place, second place, and thrid place is 狀元, 榜眼, 探花. The origin is these are the title given to the first place, second, third in 科舉考試 (if you pass this test you get to become an government official)
Another fun thing is that you can say someone is 名落孫山 if and only if he fail at . The origin of this 成語 is that in the time of 科舉, a guy named 孫山 is the one who passed the test with worst score. So if you're behind him you've failed.
