Best Fifa Football Awards 2019: Messi wins best player
It is the sixth time Messi has been voted the best player in the world.
Lionel Messi once again reigned supreme in world football as he became the Fifa men's best player of the year award at the Best Fifa Football Awards in Milan.
The Barcelona and Argentina forward had competition from Cristiano Ronaldo (Juventus and Portugal) and Virgil van Dijk (Liverpool and Netherlands).
It is the sixth time Messi has been voted the best player in the world.
Keep updated, follow The Business Standard's Google news channel
Messi, who won the Spanish La Liga title with Barcelona last season as well as the European golden boot having scored 54 goals in 58 games in all competitions, last won the award in 2015.
Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp won the men's coach of the year.
Klopp, 52, was one of three Premier League bosses to be nominated for the award, alongside Manchester City's Pep Guardiola and Tottenham's Mauricio Pochettino.
Liverpool beat Spurs in the Champions League final in June and came second in the Premier League in 2018-19.
The Reds have also won all six league matches at the start of 2019-20.
"It is great, nobody expected this 20, 10, five, four years ago that I would be standing here," said Klopp.
"We know what an incredible job you [Mauricio Pochettino] did and what Pep did. I have to say thank you to my outstanding club Liverpool FC.
"To the owners thank you, they gave me an incredible team. I have to thank my team - as a coach you can only be as good as your team is. I'm really proud of being manager of such an incredible bunch of players.
"This is an individual prize, I don't 100% understand individual prizes, I'm here for a lot of people."
In accepting the award, Klopp announced that he is joining the Common Goal initiative set up by Manchester United midfielder Juan Mata.
It means the Reds boss will donate 1% of his salary to the charity, which pledges to "generate social change and improve lives".
It could be a triple triumph for Liverpool as defender Virgil van Dijk is one of three players up for the best men's player award - along with Barcelona's Lionel Messi and Juventus' Cristiano Ronaldo - while Alisson is one of the nominees for the best goalkeeper prize.
Leeds boss Marcelo Bielsa won the fair play award after he ordered his team to allow Aston Villa to score an uncontested equaliser during their 1-1 draw in their Championship match in April.
Bielsa's side had gone ahead controversially when the Villa players stopped as they expected the ball to be kicked out of play when Jonathan Kodjia was injured, before the Argentine intervened.
Eighteen-year-old Daniel Zsori won the Puskas award for the best goal with his spectacular 93rd-minute overhead kick for Debrecen against Ferencvaros, just after he came on as a substitute for his Hungarian league debut in February.
His strike beat Messi's chip from the edge of the penalty area against Real Betis and Juan Quintero's powerful 30-yard free-kick for River Plate against Racing Club.
Liverpool and Brazil national team goalkeeper Alisson Becker won the award for best goalkeeper,
He had to stave off competition from Barcelona's German keeper Marc Ander Ter Stegen, and Manchester City's fellow countryman Ederson.
US national women's team head coach Jill Ellis won the award for best women's team coach.
The award was presented to her by former Manchester United, Cheslea and Real Madrid manager Jose Mourinho.
Next up was the Fifa Fifpro World 11 where Alisson Becker was the goalkeeper; Virgil Van Dijk, Sergio Ramos, Marcelo and M. de Ligt were the defenders; Frenkie de Jong, Luka Modric, and Eden Hazard were the midfielders; and Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo, and Kylian Mbappe were the three forwards.
In the final award of the night, presented by Fifa president Gianni Infantino, USNWT player Megan Rapinoe won the best women's player of the year award.
Before giving the award however Infantino once again urged everyone to work towards kicking racism out of football once and for all.
