An insight into the votes placed by all of Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo and Robert Lewandowski for this evening’s ‘The Best’ award have been revealed online.
Lamela bags Puskas
The latest edition of The Best awards ceremony took place a short time ago.
The event, replacing FIFA’s gala for the World Player of the Year prize, was held in Zurich, Switzerland, and saw a whole host of star performers from across the globe honoured.
Cristiano Ronaldo, for one, added to his burgeoning silverware cabinet once more, by means of FIFA’s Special Award.
This came owing to the Portuguese icon breaking the men’s all-time record for goals scored in international football.
?✨ Cristiano Ronaldo is the recipient of #TheBest FIFA Special Award!
?? Legend. Winner. Goalscoring machine. @Cristiano. pic.twitter.com/ZnzGMJKCEk
— FIFA World Cup (@FIFAWorldCup) January 17, 2022
Elsewhere, Chelsea trio Thomas Tuchel, Edouard Mendy and Emma Hayes all struck gold, whilst the prestigious Puskas Award went to ex-Tottenham star Erik Lamela, for his stunning Rabona finish in last year’s North London Derby:
Este golazo de Erik Lamela fue nominado como el mejor tanto del 2021.?⚽️
¡Felicidades @ErikLamela por ganar el premio #Puskas de la @FIFAcom! ???#CreeEnGrande pic.twitter.com/XtOqEIyRK3
— CONMEBOL.com (@CONMEBOL) January 17, 2022
Messi & Ronaldo snub one another
The evening’s headline prize, though, went to Bayern Munich talisman Robert Lewandowski.
After missing out on the Ballon d’Or to Lionel Messi late last year, it felt only fitting that the Polish international, amid one of the most historic stretches of goalscoring form in the history of football, was honoured in some form.
In turn, ‘Lewy’ was deservedly crowned The Best Men’s Player for the year of 2021 (Barcelona’s Alexia Putellas bagged the women’s equivalent):
?? #TheBest FIFA Men’s Player Award 2021 goes to #RobertLewandowski!
??? Fans, players, coaches and journalists have spoken, naming @lewy_official as #TheBest! pic.twitter.com/21hfIDR3rI
— FIFA World Cup (@FIFAWorldCup) January 17, 2022
And now, as alluded to above, an insight has been provided into precisely who not only Lewandowski himself, but also both Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi voted for as their personal picks for the prize.
Altogether unsurprisingly, the latter pair opted against backing one another, with CR7 having named Lewandowski, N’Golo Kante and Jorginho as his top-3, whilst Messi instead chose Paris Saint-Germain teammates Neymar and Kylian Mbappe, followed by Karim Benzema.
The award’s winner, meanwhile, viewed Chelsea and Italy midfield metronome Jorginho as the standout performer in 2021, followed by Messi and Ronaldo, in that order:
? Les votes de Cristiano Ronaldo?? pour #TheBest :
? Lewandowski
? Kanté
? Jorginho? Les votes de Messi?? pour #TheBest :
? Neymar
? Mbappé
? Benzema? Les votes de Lewandowski?? pour #TheBest :
? Jorginho
? Messi
? Cristiano Ronaldo— Actu Foot (@ActuFoot_) January 17, 2022
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