Messi ‘The Best’
Lionel Messi won the FIFA Men’s Player of the Year award as beaten rival Cristiano Ronaldo stayed away from the star-studded ceremony in Milan’s iconic La Scala Opera House on Monday.
Barcelona striker Messi’s victory was a surprise as he edged out Virgil Van Dijk, who won the UEFA player’s award last month after helping Liverpool to the Champions League last season.
Juventus forward Ronaldo had also been shortlisted for the award, but did not attend the ceremony as he was named in FIFA’s World 11 best team along with Messi.
Both Messi, 32, and Van Dijk, 28, are now in the running for the coveted Ballon d’Or which will be announced on December 2.
“I want to thank those who decided to give me this recognition,” Messi said. “The most important thing for me is the collective awards, but today is also a very special night.”
It is the first time that Messi has won the FIFA Best Award which was created in 2016. Ronaldo won for 2016 and 2017, with Croatian Luka Modric beating both last year.
Messi was top scorer in the Champions League last season with 12 goals before Barcelona were dumped out by Liverpool in the semifinals.
The Argentine also won the European Golden Shoe after scoring 36 goals, the La Liga title with Barcelona and helped Argentina to bronze at 2019 Copa America.
Van Dijk had been bidding to become a rare defender to win a FIFA player award.
Megan Rapinoe beat fellow World Cup winner Alex Morgan and England’s Lucy Bronze to the women’s prize, with her USA coach Jill Ellis lifting the women’s coaching award.
Rapinoe, 34, was joint top scorer with six goals at the women’s World Cup and won the Golden Boot,
Klopp won the men’s coaching award ahead of two other Premier League coaches -- Tottenham’s Mauricio Pochettino, who the German beat in June’s Champions League final, and Manchester City’s Pep Guardiola.
“It is great, nobody expected this 20, 10, five, four years ago that I would be standing here,” said the 52-year-old German who joined Liverpool in 2015.
“I have to say thank you to my outstanding club Liverpool FC. Those who don’t love it don’t have a heart.
“As a coach you can only be as good as your team. I’m really proud of being coach of such an incredible bunch of players.”
Two-time women’s World Cup-winning coach Ellis, beat Dutch coach Sarina Wiegman, runner-up in France 2019, and England’s Phil Neville for the award.
Romanian-born Hungarian forward Daniel Zsori won the Fifa Puskas Award for the best goal, beating strikes from Messi and Juan Fernando Quintero.
The 18-year-old forward, on his debut, scored a spectacular overhead kick to win the game for his side Debrecen against Ferencvaros.
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