Paris (EFE).- The Argentine Lionel Messi and the Spanish Alexia Putellas were chosen this Monday as the best players of the year at the FIFA The Best gala, which awarded the victory in the World Cup in Argentina by also crowning the coach, Lionel Scaloni, the goalkeeper Emiliano Martínez and his fans.
If the “white and blue” got all the rewards to which they opted, England, which was the great favorite in the women’s section for its victory in the Euro Cup, added the best selector, the Dutch Sarina Wiegman, and goalkeeper, Mary Earps.
But she did not get the best player, which Beth Mead opted for. She won again Alexia Putellas, the first footballer to win this award twice in a row along with the last two Ballon d’Ors, which consecrates her as the most brilliant player of this era.
The World Cup made us forget the Champions League, which was won by Real Madrid, very present in the Ballon d’Or but which left empty in The Best, where its finalists and its president were not even present.
World Cup Award
In the men’s section, it was key that, unlike the Ballon d’Or, FIFA included the World Cup in the base to take into account, despite the fact that it was delayed to November-December.
That allowed Messi to win the trophy five months after a Ballon d’Or in which he was not even a finalist and which was won by Karim Benzema who, however, was barely in Qatar due to an injury, but who won the Spanish league and La Liga of Champions, being the top scorer in both competitions.
The jury of The Best, coaches, captains, journalists and fans, in equal parts, put the accent on the World Cup, where Messi was the best player and second highest scorer, behind the third finalist, the Frenchman Kylian Mbappé.
The 35-year-old from Rosario adds his second The Best, which equals him with the Pole Robert Lewandowski and the Portuguese Cristiano Ronaldo and puts them together with his seven Ballon d’Ors.
“It was crazy for me, to achieve my dream after so much fighting, so much insisting. In the end it came and it is the most beautiful thing that happened to me in my career; a dream for any player, few can achieve it and I could have it, ”she said.
The Argentine party was completed by Scaloni, who at 44 beat Real Madrid’s Italian Carlo Ancelotti, and City’s Spanish Pep Guardiola, and who thanked the entire team for the work they did.
So did “Dibu”, the best goalkeeper ahead of Real Madrid’s Belgian Thibaut Courtois and Sevilla’s Moroccan Yassine Bono.
Their idols: “Seeing my mom clean buildings for eight or nine hours, my dad working, my idols are them,” said the Argentine goalkeeper.
The night was rounded off with the fans’ award for their presence in Qatar, which was collected by Carlos Pascual “el Tula”, a follower of the “Albiceleste” who at 82 years old played his bass drum on stage as he has done without interruption since Germany 74.
