On September 23, Milan hosted the FIFA award ceremony for the best athletes of the season. So, the best player, goalkeeper and coach were identified in both male and female football, and the author of the most beautiful goal was also named. In addition, the event was awarded a prize for fair play, a separate award for fans, and also announced the composition of the symbolic teams of stars of the last competitive year.
So, the best coach and goalkeeper in men's football was expected to be Jurgen Klopp and Alison Becker from Liverpool - the Champions League triumph. Among the goalkeepers, the Dutchwoman Sari van Veenendaal was noted among the goalkeepers, and in the other two nominations, the prizes were expected to be won by representatives of the 2019 world champions - USA - forward Megan Rapino and mentor Jill Ellis.
The fair play prize was received by Leeds United head coach Marcelo Bielsa, who took an unprecedented step in the match for access to the Premier League. The mentor demanded that his wards specifically miss a goal from Aston Villa, because they themselves excelled at the moment when one of the opponents was injured. As a result, a beautiful gesture cost the “peacocks” not only a missed ball, but also tickets to the Premier League.
The author of the most beautiful goal was recognized at that time midfielder “Debrecen” Daniel Tssori. In the match of the Hungarian championship with Ferencvaros, the footballer performed an amazingly beautiful blow through himself, for which he was awarded. It is noteworthy that in the fall of 2019, he changed his residence permit and replenished the composition of the “green eagles”.
A small surprise was caused by the composition of the 11 best players of the season for men. So, it immediately included three football players of Real Madrid, which failed last season - Sergio Ramos, Marcelo and Luca Modric. Also, a place in the symbolic team of stars, in addition to Messi, Ronaldo, van Dyck and Alison, was found in the summer from Eden Azaru, who passed from Chelsea to the Royal Club, ex-representatives of Ajax Franky de Jong and Matthews de Ligt, as well as the forward of Paris Saint-Germain »Ciliane Mbappé.
In women, the main backbone was American. Alex Morgan, Julie Ertz, Rose Lavell and Kelly O'Hara joined the company in Rapino. The place at the gate was expectedly taken by Van Venendaal, and the remaining positions were taken by the Englishwoman Lucy Bronz, the Swedish Nilla Fischer, the French Wendy Renard and Amandine Henri, as well as the Brazilian Marta.
However, the main intrigue was who would receive the award for the best football player in the world. Initially, ten players claimed this prize, but in early September, the number of nominees was reduced to three. It was expected to include regulars Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi, as well as Virgil van Dyck. However, many experts and fans preferred not the legendary strikers of Juventus and Barcelona, namely the defender of Liverpool. The key argument was the success of the Merseysiders in the main club tournament of the Old World, which last obeyed them in 2005. In addition, last season the Dutchman became the personification of reliability in the defense: he practically did not allow opponents to beat himself and created a powerful bond with Joel Matip.
As for Ronaldo and Messi, even their inclusion in the final three raised serious questions. So, the Portuguese expectedly excelled in the Italian championship as part of Juventus, but this can hardly be called a major achievement. In the Champions League, “Bianconeri” severely failed, losing in the quarterfinals to upstarts from “Ajax”. At the same time, Cristiano himself was not like himself, having scored only 28 goals in 43 matches. The only rejoicing was the success in the League of Nations, but even this was a weak consolation for the goalie.
Against this background, Messi's statistics seem much more impressive. So, the Argentine became the author of 36 goals and 15 assists in 34 meetings of the Spanish Examples and helped Barcelona once again win the honorary trophy. In addition, he scored 12 goals in the Champions League and brought his team to the semifinals, where she lost to the future winner. In the first match, the Catalans defeated their opponents 3-0, but in the return they showed complete lack of will and allowed the Reds to upset Mark-Andre Ter Stegen four times. Moreover, the Argentinean in this meeting resembled a pale shadow of himself and could not bring his partners to life.
This was followed by a fiasco at the America's Cup, where the Argentines also lost in the semifinals. This time, the Brazilians acted as offenders, and Messi not only did not hold the most outstanding tournament, he also allowed himself to make harsh remarks regarding CONMEBOL.
Thus, this year seemed ideal for once again leaving Ronaldo and Messi without a trophy. From 2008 to 2017, the prize was invariably awarded to one of the aforementioned athletes, and only a year ago the award first changed its owner. They became the leader of the silver medalists of the Russian mundial Luka Modric.
However, this time there was no sensation. The winner of the Football Player of the Year Award was Messi, for whom 46% of respondents voted for. Thanks to this, Lionel set a record for the number of victories in this nomination, taking this prize for the sixth time in his career. Until now, Ronaldo was on a par with the Argentinean.
“I want to thank everyone who voted for me. For me, individual awards are a secondary thing, the main thing is the team, ”Messi quotes AFP
It is noteworthy that the opinions of the main applicants for the award regarding the nominees almost completely diverged. So, van Dyck put Messi in the first place, while not including Ronaldo in his top 3, Lionel did not find a place for Virgil, and Cristiano for both competitors.
Runner-up van Dyck (38 votes), although he voted for Messi, but rather eloquently reacted to the victory of the Argentine in the nomination. So, at the time of the announcement of the name of the triumph, he smiled sarcastically, but after the ceremony he spoke extremely respectfully about Lionel.
“The vote is over and people have chosen Messi. I was very close to victory. I'm not sure that our game can be compared at all, because he is a striker, and I am a defender. Messi is a great footballer, arguably the best ever. I'm not upset, not upset. Very happy for him. I have already said that team prizes are more important to me. This individual award would be a bonus for me, ”quotes van Dyck NOS.
As for Ronaldo (36 votes), he was sure of his defeat and did not even come to the ceremony in Milan. Thus, the Portuguese missed the second consecutive FIFA gala evening. In 2018, he also refused to attend the event.
It is worth noting that many famous experts spoke out for the Portuguese candidacy, including the head coach of the Russian team Stanislav Cherchesov. So, the mentor put Ronaldo in first place, and Messi and van Dyck in second and third, respectively.
“Van Dyck had a good season, won the Champions League, was very noticeable in this tournament and looked great in the finals. Messi also had a great year, he, as always, scored a lot. But Ronaldo, with significant personal indicators, also took the titles - for example, the League of Nations with the Portuguese national team and Serie A with Juventus. This played a decisive role in my choice, ”Sport Express quotes Cherchesova.
Supported Ronaldo and the national team of Portugal. So, on the official page of the national team on Twitter there was a photo of the striker with the caption: "Best in history."
As former Barcelona striker Samuel Eto'o admitted, he gave his preference to Liverpool forwards Mohammed Salah and Sadio Mane, and the legendary Brazilian striker Ronaldo said he considers van Dyck the best player of the season.
“Who deserved the award? Maybe van Dyck. He is an incredible player, and he performed well last season, ”quoted Brazilian Metro.
At the same time, Barcelona were completely satisfied with the voting results. The team’s press service congratulated Messi on the victory and decided to recall why the Argentinean was worthy of victory. 17 reasons were given as arguments, including victories in the championship and the Super Bowl of Spain, the title of top scorer Examples and the Golden Boot prize for the highest number of goals of the season, as well as many other striker achievements.