Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi have both been overlooked for the UEFA Men’s Player of the Year award with 15 players named above the iconic duo. The pair have dominated football’s individual accolades for well over a decade but with both men well into their 30s they have been snubbed by UEFA’s decision makers following difficult seasons for both players, who each took on new challenges.
Instead Karim Benzema is leading the nominations after a year in which he claimed a LaLiga and Champions League double with Real Madrid, which has made him favourite to land the Ballon d’Or for the first time. For so long he played a support role to Ronaldo, but is now revelling as the team’s main man.
His teammate Thibaut Courtois produced a man of the match performance in Madrid’s final success over Liverpool in Paris and is also among the nominations. As is Kevin De Bruyne, who continued to be the heartbeat of a Manchester City side that retained the Premier League and made the last four in Europe.
Whilst those three players are those on the final shortlist and in the running for the award, UEFA also revealed the full list of 15 players who received votes from coaches and journalists. Vinicius Jnr, scorer of the winning goal in the final, and Luka Modric were among the other players from Los Blancos to receive votes. De Bruyne’s teammate Bernardo Silva also made the list, with the award to be handed out on August 25 during the Champions League draw.