UEFA Awards 2019: Ranking the 3 nominees for the Best Men's Player Award
With just over two weeks to go until the draws for this season's Champions League are made, UEFA released its final three nominees for the coveted Best Men's Player award. The winner is to be revealed on the night of the draws at a gala on August 29.
The award is given to the player who is adjudged to have been the best performer in the preceding year at both club and international level, with the only criterion being that said player must represent a club in Europe.
The award is handed out by UEFA in association with European Sports Media, and is into its ninth year (third year in its current format) and has Luka Modric as its current winner, while Cristiano Ronaldo with three wins is the record winner of the accolade.
The judging process is decided by a representative journalist from each of UEFA's 54 member nations, in addition to the 80 coaches who managed in the preceding season of European club football.
Each coach and journalist is asked to vote for their top three choices, with each player receiving five points for every first place vote, three for second and one point for a third-placed finish.
The three players with the highest number of votes are revealed, with the winner unveiled when the Champions League and Europa League draws are made.
This year, UEFA shortlisted Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi and Virgil van Dijk for the award, and in this piece, we shall be ranking the three nominees in order of their worthiness of the award.
#3 Cristiano Ronaldo (Juventus/Portugal)
Though many would term last season as a failure by Cristiano Ronaldo's lofty standards, the Portuguese icon still managed to score 28 goals and register 10 assists for Juventus in all competitions which is not bad for a 34-year-old.
He failed to inspire the Bianconeri to Champions League glory which is the primary reason he was signed, but still helped Juventus to league and Super Cup victories.
There were a number of highlights during his debut season in Italy, with his hat-trick heroics in the Round of 16 of the Champions League against Atletico Madrid and match-winning goal against AC Milan in the Italian Super Cup standing out.
On the international scene, he also scored a 53rd career hat-trick to fire Portugal into the final of the maiden edition of the Nations League, also captaining them to victory over the Netherlands in the final on home soil.