La Liga awards: Antoine Griezmann beats Leo Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo to 'Player of the Year' gong
Atletico Madrid's Antoine Griezmann was crowned the La Liga's 'Best Player of the year’ in the annual La Liga awards that was held last night. The Frenchman beat ever-present stars Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi to win the award for the first time in his career.
Also Read: Antoine Griezmann says he's not on par with Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo yet
The La Liga awards is an annual event conducted by the Liga de Futbol Profesional (LFP) to honour those who had spectacular seasons for the club. But instead of fans and critics voting, the captains and vice captains of all the twenty La Liga sides vote to choose the winners.
In general, Atletico Madrid were the team who won most of the awards on the night beating both Barcelona and Real Madrid to four of the six main awards presented. Barcelona won only one award and so did Real Madrid.
But the notable exception from the list of winners was Real Madrid's Cristiano Ronaldo who failed to win any of the awards presented on the night. Leo Messi, who was the ‘Player of the Year’ six times in the last eight years only managed to win the ‘Best Forward of the Year’ award – the seventh time he’s winning it.
Real Madrid only managed to win one of the main awards with midfielder Luka Modric winning the ‘Best Midfielder of the Year’ award for his part in securing the eleventh UEFA Champions League title for his club.
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Diego Simeone was voted the ‘Best Coach of the Year’ for another stellar campaign with what increasingly looks like an underdog team in Atletico Madrid. The Madrid team won more gongs with Jan Oblak winning the ‘Best Goalkeeper of the Year’ and Diego Godin winning the ‘Best Defender of the Year’ awards.
Team of the Year 2015/2016
The Liga de Futbol Profesional (LFP) also presented a team of the year with representatives from only the top three clubs in the Liga - Barcelona, Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid. Barcelona have five players on the list, Real Madrid have four and Atletico Madrid only managed to score two players on the list.
What’s surprising is that the ‘Best Player of the Year’ award winner, Antoine Griezmann, failed to make it to the Team of the Year even though he had another stellar campaign for Diego Simeone’s side.
Here’s the team and the other awards, accordingly:
Team of the year:
Goalkeeper: Jan Oblak (Atletico Madrid)
Defenders: Sergio Ramos (Real Madrid), Diego Godin (Atletico Madrid), Gerard Pique (Barcelona) and Marcelo (Real Madrid)
Midfielders: Andres Iniesta (Barcelona), Sergio Busquets (Barcelona) and Luka Modric (Real Madrid)
Forwards: Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid), Lionel Messi (Barcelona) and Luis Suarez (Barcelona)
Individual awards:
| Title | Winner | Club |
|---|---|---|
| Best Goalkeeper | Jan Oblak | Atletico Madrid |
| Best Defender | Diego Godin | Atletico Madrid |
| Best Midfielder | Luka Modric | Real Madrid |
| Best Forward | Lionel Messi | Barcelona |
| Best Coach | Diego Simeone | Atletico Madrid |
| Best Player | Antoine Griezmann | Atletico Madrid |
| Best Newcomer | Marco Asensio | Real Madrid |
| World Player of the Year | Luis Suarez | Barcelona |
| Fans’ Five-Star Player | Antoine Griezmann | Atletico Madrid |
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