Messi Wins FIFA Player of the Year

FIFA’s annual Football Awards has come and gone, as senior players from the men’s and women’s game have been recognized for their efforts during the 2018-19 season. As usual, Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi, football’s two biggest giants from the past decade, have been shortlisted for the men’s player of the year award. While both have arguably had brilliant seasons, (Ronaldo was part of Juventus’ Serie A winning team and Messi part of Barcelona’s La Liga winning side) some fans have felt that they did not shine as well as they usually do. A newcomer to the award’s shortlist was Liverpool’s Virgil van Dijk who has been instrumental in the Reds’ sixth Champions League victory as well as their tight Premier League race against Manchester City. Unlike Messi and Ronaldo, van Dijk is a center-back and having him win the award would have been a rarity since such recognitions are usually reserved for strikers, wingers or midfielders and are seldom given to defenders or goalkeepers. Just to give a sense of how rare it is for defenders to win such awards, the last center-back to win the FIFA Player of the Year was Fabio Cannavaro back in 2006. There was much buzz around the prospect of van Dijk winning the prestigious award, especially after he won the UEFA Men’s Player of the Year award a month earlier. Nevertheless, Liverpool and van Dijk fans’ hopes were dashed when Messi was awarded his sixth player of the year award. Since then, there has been a debate on whether or not Messi deserved the award and whether or not van Dijk was robbed from becoming the first center-back since 2006 to win the award.

RONALDO SHOWING GROWING PAINS AT JUVENTUS

During his final season at Real Madrid, Ronaldo managed to score 26 goals in the Spanish league, coming in second to Messi who bagged 34 league goals for that season. He also managed to get 15 goals in the Champions League, as well as two goals in the Club World Cup and one goal at the Spanish Super Cup, bringing his total tally to 44 goals. While Ronaldo has shown the stamina of that of a player in his 20s, his first season at Juventus seemed to be quite lackluster, as he only scored 21 times in Serie A, 6 times in the Champions League and once in the Italian Super Cup, as such he only had 28 goals to his name for that season. Despite the fact that he helped his team win another Serie A, that certainly wasn’t enough for Ronaldo to win personal accolades given the fact that Juventus crashed out of their domestic cup and the Champions League both in the quarter-final. Whether or not Ronaldo can get back to his numbers at Real Madrid remains to be seen.
 
 VAN DIJK: THE DUTCH BRICK WALL

Liverpool’s Virgil van Dijk was a key component of Liverpool’s defensive lineup for the previous season; his center-back partnership with Joel Matip as well as the arrival of new goalkeeper Allison helped the team alleviate one of its main weaknesses of Klopp’s Liverpool team: defense. The team managed to keep 21 clean sheets throughout all competitions, and many of said clean sheets came in crucial matches such as their 4-0 win against Barcelona in the Champions League semi-final second leg, and their 2-0 win against Spurs in the final where the Dutch player made an impressive recovery tackle against Son. Van Dijk’s defensive statistics go beyond clean sheets, during the entirety of last season only one player managed to dribble past the center-back and that is Leroy Sane during the Netherlands and Germany game in the UEFA Nations League. Van Dijk has also shown immense leadership on the pitch and that was exemplified at St. James Park when it seemed that Liverpool was destined to draw against Newcastle, but they were then awarded a free-kick during the final five minutes of the second half. Trent Alexander Arnold was about to take the shot, but van Dijk promptly told Shaqiri to take it instead. Shaqiri then delivered it to Origi who scored a last-minute winner to keep Liverpool’s title hopes alive. Given Van Dijk’s role in Liverpool’s successful season, many felt he deserved the FIFA Player of the Year Award.
 
MESSI: THE LEGEND CONTINUES HIS FORM

A lot was expected of Barcelona last season, not only did fans want them to retain the League and Spanish Cup, but they also yearned for Champions League silverware, something they haven't won since 2015. Needless to say, there was a lot of pressure on Messi, especially since he had been appointed as the club’s new captain following the end of last season. Unfortunately, for Barcelona the performances failed to meet fan expectations, while they managed to win the league, they went out of the Champions League to Liverpool and ended up as runners-up in the cup. However, that isn’t to say that Messi himself failed to perform during the season. First of all, he scored 36 league goals in 34 appearances as well as assisting in 13 goals. He also scored 12 Champions League goals and 3 Spanish Cup goals, bringing his total tally to 51 goals. While his team’s performance might be deemed “lackluster”, Messi’s performance was just what we have come to expect of him.

AWARD UNFAIRLY GIVEN TO MESSI?

The voting criteria for the FIFA Player of the Year Award is divided into four quarters. National team captains, coaches and accredited journalist from each of FIFA’s 211 member federations all account for 25 percent of the votes, each. The remaining 25 percent comes from the public who vote online. As such, football politics may have been in favor of Messi, who has been a household name in football since 2008. Moreover, fan opinion (which accounts for a quarter of the votes), may have also helped the Argentine since he is by far the more popular player. While this might have been van Dijk’s best opportunity to win the award, it is hard to argue that it ended up in the hands of someone who did not deserve it. It is unfortunate that it will probably be a long time before a center back wins the award, but there is still a chance that Van Dijk might win the Ballon D’or come December. Nevertheless, both players performed spectacularly during the last season, and both deserve all the praise they get.