Ballon d’Or favourite, Real Madrid’s French attacker Karim Benzema, and Barcelona’s midfielder Alexia Putellas, were named UEFA Player of the Year on Thursdayat a ceremony in Istanbul as part of the Champions League group draw.
Benzema and an ‘advance’ of the Ballon d’Or
Benzema, 34, was chosen ahead of his partner, Belgian goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois and Manchester City’s fellow Belgian Kevin de Bruyne, thanks to the fact that he won the Spanish league, the Champions League and the League of Nations with the French team last season.
Author of 44 goals in 46 games with Real Madrid, and also champion with the Gallic team in the modest European competition, Benzema finished an excellent campaign that has opened the doors wide for him to obtain the coveted Ballon d’Or, in a ceremony scheduled for October 17 in Paris.
“This year was the best of my career on a personal level.but when I enter the field I think about the collective, and I knew that the collective was going to bring me here”, declared Benzema after receiving the distinction.
The former Olympique de Lyon striker became the second Frenchman to achieve this distinction in the current configuration, after Frank Ribéry in 2013.
Putellas, in yours
The women’s award, more adjusted, went to Putellas, holder of the Ballon d’Or.
The Barça footballer generated surprise, since she missed the European Championship due to a knee injury shortly before the start of the tournament.
“I am very proud to be the first to receive it twice in a row,” said Putellas, who thanked the jury for recognizing her performance before the European Championship.
Champions League finalist, whose team lost to Olympique de Lyon 3-1, and champion of the Spanish league with 30 wins in 30 games, Putellas, 28, was named ahead of England’s Beth Mead, European champion with England and chosen best player in the competition, as well as top scorer together with the German Alexandra Popp.
The German Lena Oberdorf, 20, closed the podium of the three finalists. The award for best coach went to the Italian Carlo Ancelotti, from Real Madrid, the architect of the ‘merengue’ club lifting its 14th Champions League in history, while the award for best coach went to the Dutch coach of England
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AFP
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