No vote for Messi, Mbappe: Can you guess whom Sunil Chhetri chose for best player?
2 min read . Updated: 02 Mar 2023, 01:23 PM IST
PremiumMessi won the Best FIFA Football Awards 2022 with 52 points, followed by Kylian Mbappe with 44 points.
Sunil Chhetri has revealed that, despite being a huge fan of Lionel Messi, he did not vote for the Argentine football superstar in the recently-announced Best FIFA Men's Player 2022 award. The award was given to Messi for leading Argentina to their third football World Cup victory in Qatar 2022. Votes for the award were cast by players, national team captains, coaches and select football journalists.
Messi won the Best FIFA Football Awards 2022 with 52 points, followed by Kylian Mbappe's 44 points and Karim Benzema's 34 points.
National team captains Harry Kane (England), Manuel Neuer (Germany), Leonardo Bonucci (Italy), Virgil van Dijk (Netherlands), Robert Lewandowski (Poland) and Sergio Busquets (Spain) were among the many big names who voted for Lionel Messi in the Best FIFA Men's Player 2022 award.
Similarly, national team coaches Gareth Southgate (England), Roberto Mancini (Italy), Hansi Flick (Germany) and Roberto Martinez (Portugal) all cast their votes for Messi, while Didier Deschamps, the coach of France, voted for Kylian Mbappe.
Lionel Scaloni, the coach of Argentina, not only helped Messi win the award but also gave a curious nod to Julian Alvarez, Manchester City's young striker, as his second-best player of the year. Additionally, Egypt's skipper Mohamed Salah submitted a rather unconventional top three ballot, selecting Vinicius Junior as his player of the year ahead of Kevin De Bruyne and Achraf Hakimi.
Also Read: Is Lionel Messi coming back to FC Barcelona?
The captain of the Indian football team reserved his top vote for Real Madrid striker Karim Benzema, who was awarded the Ballon d'Or award for his exceptional performance in the 2021-22 season. Benzema helped his club win the UEFA Champions League and La Liga but could not make the French World Cup squad due to injury. Chhetri gave Benzema five points, while Mbappe and Messi received three points and one point, respectively.
Igor Stimac, the coach of the Indian football team, had a different voting pattern. He chose Croatia's Luka Modric as his top choice, followed by Messi and Benzema. Modric, who plays for Real Madrid, led Croatia to the semi-finals of the FIFA World Cup 2022.
Messi had an outstanding season with the national team, scoring seven goals and making three assists for Argentina at the FIFA World Cup 2022. He was also the recipient of the Golden Ball award in Qatar.