FIFA announces final three nominees for BEST Men's player award 2021

Global football governing body, Federation Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) has released the final three nominees of the Best FIFA Men’s Player of 2021. FIFA revealed that Argentine legendary footballer Lionel Messi, Norwegian footballer Robert Lewandowski, and Egyptian Mohamed Salah as the top frontrunners for the coveted award for the year 2021. The global football governing body is set to announce the winner on January 17.

How have the top 3 nominees of the Best FIFA Men’s Player award 2021 performed?

Robert Lewandowski had scored a total of 41 goals for Bayern Munich in the Bundesliga 2020-21 season. He also broke Gerd Muller’s previous best record of 40 goals and was named The Best FIFA Men’s Player 2020. He scored a total of 48 goals across competitions and broke the 40-goal-a-season mark for the sixth straight year. In the 2021/22 season, Lewandowski has scored 30 goals across competitions for Bayern.

At the same time, Egyptian footballer Salah scored a total of 31 goals across all competitions in the 2020-21 season for Liverpool. In the process, he became the first Reds player to score more than 20 goals in a season three different times in the Premier League. In the 2021-22 season, Salah has scored 23 goals for Liverpool across competitions, after playing 26 games in total.

Meanwhile, having won the coveted Ballon d’Or award 2021, Messi is now in contention for another major achievement in his career. Messi helped Barcelona to claim the Pichichi Trophy for the eight-time, and enjoyed success at the international level by leading Argentina to the Copa America title in 2021. He was awarded both the Golden Ball and Golden Boot awards for his individual performance in the season. He scored a total of 38 goals for Barcelona in the 2020-21 season, before moving to Paris Saint-Germain(PSG) in the summer transfer window 2021. Since joining PSG, Messi has scored six goals for the French outfit, after playing 16 games across competitions.

Image: AP