Barcelona ace Lionel Messi was awarded the FIFA Ballon d'Or for the third consecutive year. The 24-year-old forward beat team-mate Xavi and Real Madrid striker Cristiano Ronaldo to the title of the world's best player.
Messi, man of the match in the Champions League final in 2011, also won the La Liga, Spanish Supercopa, UEFA Super Cup and Club World Cup last year.
Messi's Barcelona team-mate Xavi praised the young Argentinean, predicting a dazzling future for him and proclaiming that Lionel will be named amongst the greats in football.
He said: "He's still young, only 24, and I think he's going to break all the records that exist in this sport.
"He's going to be one of the best footballers in the history of the sport."
Manchester United striker Wayne Rooney and skipper Nemanja Vidic were both included in the world XI dominated by Spanish La Liga players.
The FIFPro World XI was:
- Goal Keeper: Iker Casillas (Real Madrid),
- Full Back: Dani Alves (Barcelona),
- Center Back: Gerard Pique (Barcelona),
- Center Back: Nemanja Vidic (Man Utd),
- Full Back: Sergio Ramos (Real Madrid),
- Mid-Field: Andres Iniesta (Barcelona),
- Mid-Field: Xabi Alonso (Real Madrid),
- Mid-Field: Xavi (Barcelona),
- Forward: Lionel Messi (Barcelona),
- Forward: Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid),
- Striker: Wayne Rooney (Man Utd).
Manchester United striker Rooney said at the gala: "It was a great year and the highlight was winning the Premier League for the 19th time, which was a great moment for the club."
OTHER AWARDS:
- Coach of the year: Pep Guardiola(Barcelona).
- Women Player of the year: Homare Sawa (Japan, World Cup winning skipper).
- Coach of the year for women's football: Norio Sasaki (Japan Women’s team manager).
- FIFA fair play award: Japanese FA.
- FIFA Puskas award for the best goal of 2011: Neymar (Santos, Brazil)
- FIFA presidential award for services to football: Sir Alex Ferguson (Manchester United).
0 comments:
Post a Comment