Messi won the "King of European Football" award for the fourth time
Lionel Messi has equaled Zinedine Zidane's record of being voted "King of European Football" four times by El Pais newspaper.
Lionel Messi
Yesterday was the fourth consecutive time Messi was honored by the Uruguayan daily after a vote involving prestigious sports journalists.
The Barca striker received 108 votes, ahead of his club teammate Andres Iniesta, who got 93 votes.
Most surprisingly, Real Madrid star Cristiano Ronaldo came in third with just... 9 votes.
The “King of European Football” is a prestigious annual sports award in South America. With this year’s victory, Messi has equaled French legend Zidane, who won the award in 1998, 2001, 2002 and 2003.
In the category of best coach, the person honored was the strategist Vicente del Bosque of the Spanish national team. He surpassed his colleague Jose Mourinho of Real by only 9 more votes. In third place was the former coach of Barca, Pep Guardiola.
Some 250 journalists from a range of European newspapers, magazines and press agencies took part in the 27-year-old poll.
According to Bongdaplus - DT
