credit: twitter
Record seven-time Ballon d'Or winner Lionel Messi has continued his pursuit of winning multiple accolades this season as the 35-year-old Argentina won his second The Best FIFA Men's Player award on Monday night at the Theatre du Chatelet in Paris, France. Messi pipped Kylian Mbappe and Karim Benzema to win the award however, Real Madrid defender David Alaba received a plenty of abuse on social media for his votes.
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While the 35-year-old Messi won the FIFA World Cup 2022, Golden Ball among other achievements, Karim Benzema won the UEFA Champions League with Real Madrid before he was ruled out of the World Cup due to an injury. On the other hand, Kylian Mbappe finished as the top scorer in the World Cup and scored four goals in the final against Argentina, but failed to win the tournament.
As it was revealed, Austria captain David Alaba voted Lionel Messi above his Real Madrid teammate Karim Benzema and the fans flooded the social media with abuses against the 30-year-old defender while some asked for his sacking from Los Blancos as #AlabaOut trends on Twitter.
Check some viral tweets:
Messi claimed The Best FIFA Men's Player award with 52 points followed by Mbappe at the second place with 44 points while Benzema, who missed the World Cup through injury, was third with 32 points.
David Alaba clears the air over his FIFA Best Player vote
On Tuesday, Alaba took to his official Twitter handle to clarify voting Lionel Messi above his teammate Karim Benzema as the Austrian revealed his admiration for the Frenchman. Alaba wrote, " Regarding FIFA The Best Award: The Austrian national team vote for this award as a team, not me alone. Everyone in the team council is able to vote and that's how it's decided. Everyone knows, especially Karim, how much I admire him and his performances"
He added in the thread, " and I have often said that for me he is the best striker in the world, and that is still the case. Without doubt. "
On the other hand, Spain and Barcelona Femeni star Alexis Putellas won The Best FIFA women's player award while Argentina manager Lionel Scaloni won The Best coach award and amputee footballer Marcin Oleksy wins FIFA Puskas Award.
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