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51 Per Cent Of Fans Think Lionel Messi Should Win UEFA Men's POTY

51 Per Cent Of Fans Think Lionel Messi Should Win UEFA Men's POTY

The people think the five-time Ballon d'Or winner should emerge victorious...

Josh Lawless

Josh Lawless

SPORTbible fans believe Lionel Messi should win the UEFA Men's Best Player award ahead of Virgil van Dijk and Cristiano Ronaldo.

The trio were named as the final three earlier this month, with the winner being announced as part of the Champions League group stage draw on Thursday evening.

We posed the question to the SPORTbible audience and garnered over 17,000 votes - 51 per cent of which picked five-time Ballon d'Or winner Messi. Van Dijk was in second with 33 per cent, with Ronaldo finishing third on 15 per cent.

Dutch defender Van Dijk had a stellar year, winning the Champions League after a Man of the Match performance in the 2-0 win over Spurs in Madrid as well as lifting the Super Cup courtesy of victory over Chelsea earlier this month.

But Messi's tally of 48 goals and 16 assists in all competitions for Barcelona has people thinking that he ought to win the coveted award for only the third time.

UEFA has said that its criteria for Men's Player of the Year has been based on their "performances over the whole season in all competitions - both domestically and internationally - at either club or national team level."

As per UEFA, the final three-man shortlist was selected by a jury consisting of the 80 coaches from teams that participated in the group stages of the Champions League and Europa League and 55 journalists selected by the European Sports Media.

Jury members picked their top three players and points are allocated based on their rankings, with the first choice receiving five points, second place picking up three and third place getting one point.

Image: PA
Image: PA

There have already been leaks that Messi, who somehow finished fifth on the shortlist last year, will collect the trophy after securing 252 points, 28 points better off than Van Dijk.

In addition to the main award, UEFA will also announce the Women's Player of the Year and UEFA Champions League positional award winners.

Here are the three-person shortlists for the other UEFA awards:

  • Goalkeeper of the Season: Alisson, Hugo Lloris and Marc-Andre ter Stegen.
  • Defender of the Season: Trent Alexander-Arnold, Matthijs de Ligt and Virgil van Dijk.
  • Midfielder of the Season: Frenkie de Jong, Christian Eriksen and Jordan Henderson.
  • Forward of the Season: Sadio Mane, Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo.
  • Women's Player of the Year: Lucy Bronze, Ada Hegerberg and Amandine Henry.
  • Europa League Player of the Season: Olivier Giroud, Eden Hazard and Luka Jovic.
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Topics: Football News, Football, Lionel Messi, UEFA, Virgil Van Dijk, Cristiano Ronaldo