Robert Lewandowski was voted The Best FIFA Men’s Player of 2021 on Monday evening. However, the Bayern Munich top scorer was not at the top of the list of national coach Louis van Gaal and Virgil van Dijk. The captain of the Dutch national team put Mohamed Salah, teammate at Liverpool, in first place. Van Gaal chose Chelsea midfielder N’Golo Kante as the best player of 2021, it became clear on Tuesday.
Van Dijk did have a second place in store for Lewandowski and the top three of the centre-back was completed by Kante. Van Gaal placed Kevin De Bruyne (Manchester City) in second place, with Salah as the number three of the the Dutch squad. Van Gaal did not opt for Lewandowski at all and both the national coach and the captain of the Netherlands had not made room for Lionel Messi.
Amazement everywhere by FIFA’s remarkable choice for team of the year
The fact that a player was missing from the FIFA team raised questions on Monday evening.
Bert van Marwijk (United Arab Emirates) chose Karim Benzema, Lewandowski and Salah in his top three. Stanley Menzo (Suriname) went for Lewandowski, Benzema and Kante. Curaçao national coach Patrick Kluivert had Lionel Messi in first place, followed by Lewandowski and Salah. John van ‘t Schip, who will leave Greece later this year, put Lewandowski, Messi and Salah in his top three list.
Lewandowski received the most votes from national coaches and captains of national teams, journalists and supporters. The performances of the various contenders between October 8, 2020 and August 7, 2021 were included in this. The star player of Bayern managed to trump Messi and Salah in the final round. Messi has won the prestigious award in the past, as have Cristiano Ronaldo (twice) and Luka Modric.
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