The FIFA Men’s Best awards ceremony took place on Monday night, with PSG superstar Lionel Messi claiming another win, and the Premier League star voting record has now been revealed.
Lionel Messi clinched another overwhelming win at the FIFA Best of the Year Awards on Monday night, being crowned the best male player.
Unlike the Ballon d’Or which is voted for by journalists, the FIFA Best award is determined by media representatives, national team coaches, national team captains and supporters. Each group is weighted equally, ensuring that each category is equally represented when determining winners.
The way to vote for the boss and captains of the national team was also announced by FIFA after the event. This implies that, fans can now sign up to see who each of them picked for first, second and third place. Interestingly, none of Martin Odegaard, Mohamed Salah or Harry Kane correctly voted the top three. Arsenal and Norway captain Odegaard put Messi, who won the World Cup with Argentina, in first place.
But then he ranked Manchester City star Erling Haaland, who has had a great start in the Premier League, into second place. And his top three was completed by Messi’s team-mate at PSG, Kylian Mbappe.
Mbappe became the second player to score a hat-trick in a World Cup final in December, although his France team ultimately lost to Messi’s Argentina. Haaland is fifth in the actual vote, while Mbappe is second.
Meanwhile, Liverpool star and Egypt captain Salah has rigged his vote, putting Real Madrid winger Vinicius at the top of the list. The Brazilian has impressed for Los Blancos, scoring the winning goal in the Champions League final last May.
In second place, Salah voted for Manchester City midfielder Kevin de Bruyne, while the Egyptian chose PSG right-back Achraf Hakimi in third. Hakimi also helped Morocco become the first African team to reach the semi-finals of a World Cup. De Bruyne is 10th on the actual leaderboard, just above Vinicius at 11th, while Hakimi comes in at eighth. Kane came closest to the final top 3, while putting Messi first.
He then chose Sadio Mane, who left Liverpool for Bayern Munich in the summer. And England’s top three captains are completed by Karim Benzema, who almost single-handedly inspired Real Madrid to win the Champions League last season.
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Messi of course topped the overall standings, while Mane was in sixth place. But Kane’s third-place pick Benzema ended Tuesday night, with Messi honoring the runner-up.
“It’s nice to be here again, with Benzema, with Kylian, because both have had a great year. It’s an honor for me,” the Argentine superstar said.
“I want to thank my colleagues, including my manager Scaloni, and we are here to represent them all (Argentina team), because we wouldn’t be here without them. “It has been a crazy year for me. I have fulfilled my dream, after so much struggle and so much determination to win it. Winning the World Cup is the best thing of my career. It is a dream for many people, but few can achieve it.
“I want to thank my family, the people of Argentina, for this will forever be in our memory. I want to kiss my kids while watching this, Thiago Mateo and Ciro, I love you… go to sleep now!
Source: mirror.co.uk