Barcelona’s Lionel Messi and Xavi Hernandez along with Real Madrid’s Cristiano Ronaldo lead the race to win the inaugural UEFA Best Player in Europe award.
Messi, Ronaldo, Xavi in contention for UEFA Award
Fifty three sports journalists from each of Europe’s football associations picked ten top players who were outstanding last season and then picked the top three who will be contesting for the award to be presented during the UEFA Champions League draw on August 25th. The new accolade, created in partnership with the European Sports Media (ESM) replaces the European Club Footballer of the Year which was won by Diego Milito last year.
Messi and Xavi were highly influential in Barcelona’s domestic league and European triumph last year with the former scoring an incredible 54 goals in 55 appearances. Ronaldo himself scored 40 goals to pick up the Golden Boot and will feel confident about his chances about winning this one.
The top ten unsurprisingly comprises of two more players from Barcelona and two from Champions League runners up Manchester United. While Iniesta and Pique are ranked fourth and ninth respectively, Wayne Rooney and Nemanja Vidic take the sixth and seventh spot. The remaining places are takes by Porto’s Falcao, Bayern’s goalkeeper Manuel Neuer and AC Milan’s Zlatan Ibrahimovic.
Tags: Messi, Ronaldo, Sports Journalists, UEFA Award, UEFA Best Player, UEFA Champions League, Xavi
