Virgil van Dijk, a Liverpool defender won the UEFA Men’s Player of the Year award on Thursday, August 29, 2019, taking the prize over Barcelona’s Lionel Messi and Juventus’ Cristiano Ronaldo.
The award was handed to Netherlands captain at the end of the UEFA Champions League group stage draw ceremony, held in Monaco.
Van Dijk, 28, made his first appearance on the final three after helping Liverpool win the Champions League title last season. Ronaldo, a three-time winner, has been ever-present since the award was created in 2011.
“It’s been a long road but that’s part of my journey, it’s part of who I am. I needed it like this, I’m not a player who was 18 years old and had that rise straight away. I had to work hard for every step of the way – that’s part of me and I’m very happy about that,” Van Dijk said.
Two-time award winner Messi was the leading scorer in both La Liga (36 goals) and the Champions League (12 goals) last season but his Barcelona side fell in the semifinal stage to Liverpool, who overcame a three-goal deficit in the second leg to advance.
Ronaldo and Messi, who have dominated the game’s individual awards for the past decade, sat next to each other at the UEFA event and Ronaldo reflected on no longer being in direct competition with the Argentine in the Spanish league.
“It was a special year. I was curious because we’ve shared the stage here for 15 years. Of course, we have a good relationship. We have not yet had dinner together yet but I hope in the future,” the Portuguese star said laughing.
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