Liverpool defender, Virgil van Dijk, has beaten Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi to the UEFA men’s player of the year award.
The Dutch defender was named the winner following the champions league draw for the 2019/2020 season which was held at Monaco.
He replaced Modric who won the award last year as the new king of Europe. The 27-year was handed the award over Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo after helping Liverpool win their sixth European trophy last season.
He was also influential for the Reds in their title run last season. Jurgen Klopp’s side were narrowly beaten to the league title by Man City last season by just a point.
On the international scene, Van Dijk captained the Netherlands to the final of the inaugural UEFA Nations League where they lost narrowly to hosts Portugal.
In winning the award, Van Dijk becomes the first defender to pick up the biggest individual award handed out by UEFA.
̶C̶a̶l̶m̶ Cool as you like 🏆🏆
Van Dijk 👏👏👏#UCLdraw pic.twitter.com/Letdy1RVzV
— UEFA Champions League (@ChampionsLeague) August 29, 2019
Other winners for the evening include Alisson Becker who was named goalkeeper of the year, Frenkie De Jong ( Midfielder of the year), while Lionel Messi was named ( Forward of the year).
✨ 2018/19 #UCL Forward of the Season ✨
🏅 𝐌𝐄𝐒𝐒𝐈#UEFAawards | #UCLdraw pic.twitter.com/OspQ4gXQwR
— UEFA Champions League (@ChampionsLeague) August 29, 2019
In addition to the UEFA player of the year award, Van Dijk was also named the defender of the year. He will be hoping to make it a clean sweep of individual awards when FIFA and France Football announce winners for The Best and Ballon d’Or respectively.
