UEFA release full list of top ten players for 2017-18 season after Luka Modric’s victory… and Lionel Messi is ranked just fifth in Europe
- UEFA has released the top ten players for the Men’s Player of the Year award
- Real Madrid midfielder Luka Modric won the prize in Monaco on Thursday night
- The Croatian edged former team-mate Cristiano Ronaldo and Mohamed Salah
- Lionel Messi came fifth in the standings with Antoine Griezmann taking fourth
UEFA has released the full list of the top ten players who were in the running for the Men’s Player of the Year award won by Real Madrid midfielder Luka Modric on Thursday.
Modric received the award after the Champions League group stage draw in Monaco after he guided Los Blancos to their third successive European Cup against Liverpool in May.
The Croatian, who had enjoyed a surreal year for club and country, beat fellow nominees Cristiano Ronaldo and Mohamed Salah to the award but superstar Lionel Messi could only manage fifth in the standings.
Luka Modric was crowned winner of the UEFA Men’s Player of the Year on Thursday night
The Real Madrid midfielder also collected the Champions League best midfielder award
Modric won the prize with 313 points, comfortably seeing of Ronaldo and Salah who earned 223 and 134 respectively.
After winning the Europa League with Atletico Madrid and the World Cup with France in a successful campaign, Antoine Griezmann may have felt unlucky to miss out on the top three but he did finish in fourth with 72 points.
Lionel Messi, a regular contender for football’s most prestigious awards, could only manage fifth place on 55 points. The Barcelona star managed 45 goals in 54 games last season but the Catalan giants were eliminated in the Champions League at the quarter-final stage by Roma and that may have been the reason he dropped down.
French World Cup hero Kylian Mbappe, Manchester City’s Kevin De Bruyne, Champions League and World Cup winner Raphael Varane, Chelsea’s Eden Hazard and Spanish defender Sergio Ramos completed the top 10.
Cristiano Ronaldo had to settle for second place behind his former Real Madrid team-mate
Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah picked up third after a sensational first campaign at Anfield
Lionel Messi could only manage fifth place after a disappointing Champions League campaign
Elsewhere on Thursday night, Ronaldo picked up the award for the Champions League’s best forward last campaign with Real Madrid after becoming the top scorer in the competition for a sixth-year running.
Ramos was voted as the competition’s best defender last season while Modric collected his second award after he was named as the best midfielder for his incredible tournament.
Costa Rica keeper Keylor Navas made it four out of four award categories for Real after he was named as the best goalkeeper of last season’s Champions League tournament.
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