Iniesta, Messi, CR7 compete for "Best Player in Europe" award
The superstars are focusing on the new season but there is one event they cannot miss on August 30 in Monaco, which is the UEFA Best Player in Europe Awards Gala.
Iniesta, Messi, Ronaldo
According to leaked news from Marca, the final list of candidates will be a race between three names: Lionel Messi, Andres Iniesta and Cristiano Ronaldo. That means glory will not go to players who played very well last season such as Didier Drogba, Iker Casillas or Andrea Pirlo...
This will be the second time UEFA has awarded the Best Player in Europe award. Last year, the competition between Messi and Ronaldo ended with the Argentine star winning. This year, Marca commented that the most prestigious title will still be difficult to escape from the hands of these two players, even though Iniesta has just been voted the Best Player at EURO 2012.
In the 2011/12 season, Ronaldo scored 46 goals to help Real Madrid win the La Liga championship, including the decisive goal that brought an important victory right on Barca's field. He also played quite impressively at EURO 2012 with 3 goals, leading Portugal to the semi-finals.
Meanwhile, Messi's scoring form was even more terrifying. He set a new European scoring record with 73 goals in all competitions, including 50 in La Liga and 14 in the Champions League. However, his Barca team was less successful, winning only the Copa del Rey.
It is very likely that the UEFA Best Player in Europe award will also influence the prestigious FIFA Ballon d'Or award that will be presented at the end of the year. As evidenced by the fact that 1 year ago, Messi, Ronaldo and Xavi Hernandez entered the final round of UEFA voting, at the end of the year, these three players shared the Golden, Silver and Bronze Balls from FIFA respectively.
It is known that the UEFA award is not limited to nationality but is only given to players playing in European national championships. Before the list of candidates was reduced to 3 people, the positions from 4th to 10th were Pirlo, Xavi, Casillas, Drogba, Petr Cech, Radamel Falcao and Mesut Oezil.
It is known that in the initial list of 32 candidates, Real has the largest force with 7 representatives including Xabi Alonso, Casillas, Fabio Coentrao, Pepe, Oezil, Sergio Ramos and Ronaldo. Barca only has 4 people: Xavi, Iniesta, Messi and Cesc Fabregas. Some other notable faces are Fernando Torres, Sergio Aguero, David Silva and Luka Modric.
The winner of this year's Best Player in Europe award will be chosen from a vote of 53 journalists from UEFA member states. Voting will take place live at a gala dinner in Monaco on 30 August, ahead of the UEFA Super Cup between Chelsea and Atletico Madrid.
According to Bongdaplus - DT
