Messi named Best FIFA Men’s Player for a record sixth time

The Best FIFA Football Awards 2019 was held on Tuesday at the Teatro alla Scala in Milan, Italy. Lionel Messi of FC Barcelona smiled in joy after winning the Best FIFA Men’s Player Award. Messi has been named the Best FIFA Men’s Player for a record sixth time after he last won his fifth in 2016. The FC Barcelona star outpaced his arch-rival Cristiano Ronaldo, who has won the award on five occasions. In the final voting, more than 200 coaches and captains of the national football teams around the world, the media and football fans gave Messi 46 points, allowing him to beat his competition by a wide margin. Van Dijk received 38 points and Ronaldo had 36.

Ronaldo was not there at the FIFA awards ceremony to watch Messi win the award. He decided not to attend the ceremony and stay at home. Ronaldo came under fire for skipping the ceremony last year after learning that he was not the winner of the award. Ronaldo posted a photo of him reading in his living room and wrote, “Everything that is big today has started small,” and “Keep in mind that after night always comes dawn.”

In his acceptance speech, Messi said that he places a priority on team achievements but today is a special day and he is so happy that his wife and kids attended the ceremony for the first time. Not that he targeted Ronaldo’s arrogance, but Messi’s sincerity stood out in his speech. Messi’s fine personality was revealed in the voting as well. Messi voted for Sadio Mane (Liverpool) as the best men’s player of the year and chose Ronaldo as his second best player. Players earn five, three, and one point each according to their ranking. But surprisingly, Ronaldo did not include Messi in his best three. He opted for Matthijs De Ligt as his best player.

Messi helped his team win La Liga by scoring 34 goals in 36 games last season. As a result, he won the European Golden Shoe. He also scored 12 goals in the Champions League. On the other hand, Ronaldo scored only 21 goals in 31 games, his poorest record during the past 10 seasons, after moving to Juventus in Serie A from Real Madrid in La Liga last season.


Won-Joo Lee takeoff@donga.com