The Juventus star put an end to a long-running trend of ignoring the Barcelona talisman as a nominee for individual awards this year.
Robert Lewandowski took home the 2020 edition of the ‘The Best’ FIFA’s Men’s Player award.
Lewandowski scored a staggering 55 goals last season to lead Bayern Munich to Champions League, Bundesliga, and DFB-Pokal success, which helped him beat competition from Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi.
After the virtual awards ceremony, FIFA released a document on their official website revealing each vote from the national teams’ captains and head coaches, and the journalists.
The recipient of the award cast his primary vote to former Bayern teammate Thiago Alcantara. He had Neymar as his second option and Kevin De Bruyne as his third.
Ronaldo gave his No.1 vote to Lewandowski while Messi opted to cast his primary vote to close friend and former partner in crime Neymar.
Ronaldo had his nemesis’ name for the very first time on his ballot, putting the Barca skipper in the second position. Messi, meanwhile, after giving props to him for the last two years, omitted his arch-rival’s name completely this time out.
It seems both of them rate Kylian Mbappe highly with the Paris Saint-Germain forward being the Portuguese captain’s third choice and the Argentine skipper’s second.
Sergio Ramos, skipper of Spain and Real Madrid, who ranks 11th in the final standings, opted to cast his first vote to the hot favorite Lewandowski. Thiago and Neymar were his second and third choices.
Croatia captain Luka Modric, like many, had the Bayern’s prolific Pole, as his No.1 choice, with his next two being teammate Ramos and Mohamed Salah.
Eden Hazard’s nominees were almost the same as Modric’s except he replaced Salah with De Bruyne.
Virgil van Dijk had an all-Liverpool ballot with Sadio Mane, Salah, and Thiago, in that order, on it.
Lewandowski received 52 voting points, with Ronaldo second on 38 and Messi third with 35.
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