Lionel Messi wins FIFA Best Men’s Player of 2019
September 24, 2019
Barcelona forward Lionel Messi won the prestigious individual award after another terrific season, edging Dutch defender, Virgil Van Dijk and Portuguese superstar Cristiano Ronaldo.
Argentine and Barcelona legend Lionel Messi has recently been named The Best FIFA Men’s Player at the 2019 award ceremony. The Barcelona star edged out Liverpool’s Virgil van Dijk and Juventus’ Cristiano Ronaldo to claim the prize.
Messi was a worthy winner after he led Barcelona to yet another Spanish La Liga title in the last campaign. That was his 10th League title since breaking joining the club.
He scored 51 goals in 50 match appearances for the Catalan giants last season and provided 20 assists. That astonishing goal haul marked his 10th successive season with at least 40 goals in a single season.
The ceremony on Monday was the fourth time the award had been presented. Previously FIFA The Best award was merged with France Football’s Ballon d’Or, and Real Madrid’s Champions League triumphs dominating the award’s early history.
Ronaldo was the winner of the award in 2016 and 2017 after he led his team to two consecutive Champions League titles, and Lionel Messi coming in at a second place in the voting in each season.
Real Madrid midfielder Luka Modric was the winner of the award in 2018 after he not only won yet another Champions League crown, the club’s third consecutive title but also reached the 2018 World Cup final with Croatia in Russia.
However, this 2019 was Lionel Messi’s year. He wonders the award after a breathtaking goal haul, winning the Spanish League and many brilliant moments in last year’s football season.
Lionel Messi was also named in the FIFA Men’s World XI alongside Van Dijk, Matthijs de Ligt, Sergio Ramos, Eden Hazard Ronaldo, Modric, Alisson Becker, Marcelo, and Kylian Mbappe.
The Barca star didn’t win all the awards at the ceremony though. 18-year-old Hungarian Daniel Zsori won the 2019 FIFA Puskas Award for the best goal of the previous football campaign.
Before the award ceremony, many had favoured Van Dijk as the main favourite to win the award of this year’s best player. The Dutch centre-back had anchored a Liverpool defense, won the Champions League and was widely considered the world’s best defender.
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This article is brought to us by our Sports Writers Club resident columnist – Collins Michael Nwokolo. Follow him on Twitter and Pinterest.
