Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1171146
maltatoday | WEDNESDAY • 25 SEPTEMBER 2019 20 FOOTBALL SPORTS LIONEL Messi has been named men's player of the year at the Best FIFA awards in Milan, beating Liverpool's Virgil van Dijk and Juventus' Cristiano Ronaldo. The Barcelona legend has now won FIFA's top gong for a record sixth time in his career, taking him one clear of his great rival Ronaldo. Messi may have felt disappointed with 'just' winning a 10th La Liga crown dur- ing the 2018-19 season after missing out on the Champions League with Barca and the Copa America with Argentina but he did score a staggering 51 goals for his club. Van Dijk had been favourite to land the big award having pipped both superstars to the UEFA player of the year award last month, although he is still favourite for December's Ballon d'Or. Earlier Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp has been named men's coach of the year at the Best FIFA awards in Milan, while Alisson Becker has scooped the goalkeeper prize. Klopp guided his side to Champions League glory last season, while the Reds narrowly missed out on the Premier League title, being pipped by Manchester City. The German claimed the award ahead of Tottenham boss Mauricio Pochettino, whose team Liverpool defeated in the Champions League final, and City's Pep Guardiola. Klopp announced he had signed up to the Common Goal movement, in which members donate one per cent of their salary to a charity which funds organisa- tions around the world that use football to tackle social issues. He said: "I'm really proud and happy that I can announce that from today on I am a member of the Common Goal fam- ily." Liverpool's Alisson Becker won the men's goalkeeper award, beating Man- chester City counterpart Ederson and Barcelona's Marc-Andre Ter Stegen. As well as helping his club win the Champions League last season and claim- ing the Premier League's Golden Glove with 21 clean sheets in 38 matches, Alis- son was also part of the Brazil side that won the Copa America over the summer. To the bemusement of many fans who have not always associated Leeds or Mar- celo Bielsa with fair play, the veteran Ar- gentinian and his players were awarded the Fair Play Award for allowing Aston Villa to score against them in April. Angry scenes broke out after Mateusz Klich scored for Leeds while Villa's Jona- than Kodjia lay injured on the field. Bielsa insisted Leeds, despite the attempts of former defender Pontus Jansson to stop them, allow Villa to score immediately from the kick-off. The women's Best player award went to US forward Megan Rapinoe, who was joint-top scorer and won the Golden Ball for best player at the World Cup. Rapinoe took the award on Monday ahead of international team-mate Alex Morgan, who matched her in scoring six times during the summer's tournament in France, and England's Lucy Bronze, who was the Silver Ball winner at the World Cup. Outgoing United States boss Jill Ellis took the women's coach award ahead of England's Phil Neville. Ellis became the first coach in history to win two Women's World Cups over the summer, having also overseen the US tri- umph in 2015. Her side beat Neville's Lionesses in the semi-finals and Holland, whose boss Sa- rina Wiegman was also on the shortlist, in the final. Messi beats van Dijk and Ronaldo for top gong Lionel Messi wins the FIFA Best Men's Player award Best FIFA Awards 2019