Virgil Van Dijk Beat Lionel Messi By Almost 100 Points To Win UEFA Men's Player Of The Year

Liverpool defender Virgil van Dijk beat Lionel Messi by almost 100 points to lift the UEFA Men's Player of the Year award on Thursday night.

A jury comprising of 80 coaches that participated in the group stages of the 2018/19 UEFA Champions League voted for their best player.

In addition, coaches who also participated in the Europa League voted along with 55 journalists selected by the European Sports Media (ESM) group.

These are the results in full:

1. Virgil van Dijk (Liverpool & Netherlands) - 305 points
2. Lionel Messi (Barcelona & Argentina) - 207 points
3. Cristiano Ronaldo (Juventus & Portugal) - 74 points
4. Alisson (Liverpool & Brazil) - 57 points
5. Sadio Mané (Liverpool & Senegal) - 51 points
6. Mohamed Salah (Liverpool & Egypt) - 49 points
7. Eden Hazard (Chelsea/Real Madrid & Belgium) - 38 points
8.= Matthijs de Ligt (Ajax/Juventus & Netherlands) - 27 points
8.= Frenkie de Jong (Ajax/Barcelona & Netherlands) - 27 points
10. Raheem Sterling (Manchester City & England) - 12 points

Image: PA

UEFA also posted about 'why' van Dijk won the Men's player of the year award.

"Following Liverpool's 2018 final defeat by Real Madrid, Van Dijk had every reason for nerves ahead of the 2019 decider, but his concentration did not waver." they said.

"He shut out the opposition and was named man of the match as his side edged out Tottenham Hotspur in Madrid.

"Fearless since arriving from Southampton in January 2018, Van Dijk kept more clean sheets than any defender in Europe's top five leagues in 2018/19.

"While Liverpool fell narrowly short in the Premier League, his solid presence (and occasional goalscoring efforts) provided the platform for a sixth European Cup."

Image: PA

Van Dijk was phenomenal under Jurgen Klopp last season. He beat Raheem Sterling and four others to claim the PFA Players' Player of the Year Award before helping his team beat Spurs in the Champions League final.

The 28-year-old made 59 appearances for club and country in 2018/19 campaign, and played more minutes than any other player.

Meanwhile second place Lionel Messi proved once again that he is one of the world's best, scoring 54 goals in 58 games for club and country last season.

He not only helped the Catalan giants to the Champions League semi-final, scoring the goal of the tournament against Liverpool with a stunning free-kick in the first leg, but he bagged 12 goals in Europe's biggest competition.

Messi was also La Liga's top scorer in 2018/19, with his 36 goals helping Barca lift the league title.

Image: PA

Who do you think should have won the UEFA Men's player of the Year?

Let us know in the comments.

Topics: Liverpool, Football News, Football, Lionel Messi, UEFA, Virgil Van Dijk, Soccer

Jack Kenmare

Jack Kenmare is a writer at SPORTbible. He's interviewed some of the biggest names in sport, including Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Pele, Carles Puyol and Tim Henman. He dabbles in all things sport but football is his biggest passion. He was once hit in the head by a wayward strike from Nicky Butt and lived to tell the tale.

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