Messi and Aitana triumph in The Best of wrongs

In a gala full of absences, especially at the male level, Leo Messi, who did not appear at the award ceremony and Aitana Bonmatí, who closed an unbeaten season, were crowned the best players in the world in The Best of FIFA.

Not even Kylian Mbappéwho played last night with Paris Saint Germain, nor Leo MesYes, he didn’t travel to London for what could be the final Grand Prix of his career, nor was Erling Haaland, who is recovering from an injury that has seen him miss City’s last nine games, in The London Apollo.

The three male candidates for the most important award of the evening left aside the gala with a greater presence of women’s football, and the fact is that FIFA decided that all awards will be given by women.

Therefore, Best confirmed the supremacy ofand Aitan in a brutal season for the Barcelona player, in which she won absolutely everything she participated in. After the triumph with Barcelona in the Spanish league, Champions League and Spanish Super Cupand, being the best player in all those tournaments, he also won Australia and New Zealand World Cup with Espyear, with the addition of the Ballon d’Or tournament. The first of October was added to that Golden ball his career in Paris.

Aitanwho defeated Jennifer Hermoso and Linda Caicedo in the voting this Monday, is the first in history to win all the awards in all the tournaments he played.

“Two weeks ago, when 2023 was ending, I felt a certain nostalgia, it was an exceptional and unique year, which I will remember for the rest of my life. To start 2024 by receiving this award is a source of pride, but I owe it to the teams I belonged to. Without “You don’t you wouldn’t be here and I wouldn’t be the player I am today. I’m thrilled to belong to a generation of people that is changing the rules of the game and the world,” she said. Aitan in the winner’s speech.

The Barcelona footballer was also in FIFA’s ideal eleven, along with Olga Carmona from Real Madrid, the only two Spanish women in this award. The eleven consisted of Mary Earps, in goal, Carmona, Lucy Bronze and Alex Greenwood, in goal; Keira Walsh, Alessia Russo and Lauren James, in center of field, i Aitana, Ella Toone, Alex Morgan and Sam Kerr, in attack. Neither Jennifer Hermoso nor Linda Caicedo, despite being nominated for best player, did not make it to the eleven.

The presence of nine players on stage contrasted with just Ruben Dias and Ederson Moraes who assembled the best men’s eleven consisting of Courtois in goal, Kyle Walker, Ruben Dias and John Stonewith, in defense; Bernardo Silva, Jude Bellingham and Kevin de Bruyne, in midfield, and Erling Haaland, Kylian Mbappé, Leo Messi and Vinícius Júnior, in attack.

Although Courtois entered as the best of the eleven, Ederson was chosen as the best goalkeeper of the season, which is one of the biggest contradictions of the evening. Neither was Rodrigo Hernández, the author of the goal that made the champion Europe in City i undoubtedly the best center in the world last season.
In the award for the best player, the forecasts were broken and Messi He won perhaps the last major award in his sports career.
The prize was won by the one from Rosario, despite the fact that the voting format did not favor him.

Unlike the Ballon d’Or he won in October, the eighth of his career, the period taken into account for The Best is from December 20, 2022 to August 20, 2023, which excludes the Copa del Qatar World. Despite this, Messi’s achievements during that time, the League Cup with Inter Miami and Ligue 1 with Paris Saint Germain, were enough to usurp the award from Haaland, who scored 52 goals in 53 games to win the treble with Manchester City, with the Premier League, Champions League and FA Cup.

Messi He didn’t go to London and didn’t send anyone in his place to get the trophy that he won three times already, in 2019, on the eve Virgil Van Dijk and Cristiano Ronaldo, and in 2022, surpassing Kylian Mbappé and Karim Benzema.

The one who was there was Pep Guardiola, who took the award for the best coach, ahead of Simone Inzaghi and Luciano Spalletti, in one of the strongest awards of the evening, thanks to Catalano’s hat-trick, the second in the history of English football, after Manchester United in 1998-1999. season, and the second in his career, after the one he achieved with Barcelona in 2009.

“I would like to share this award with Luciano, for his great season at Napoli after so many years, and with Simone, for how difficult he made it for us in the final with that wonderful team. I also want to share it with the City owners, especially Ferran Soriano, on creating this idea, and with Txiki Begiristan, for trusting me,” he said Guardiola.
The Spaniard also dedicated the award to his 92-year-old father, who accompanied him to the ceremony.

In the award for the best coach of women’s football, English coach Sarina Wiegman won ahead of Jonatan Giráldez from Barcelona and Emma Hayes from Chelsea. The Dutchwoman won this award for the fourth time thanks to the final of the World Championship in which she led the English, as well as winning the Arnold Cup and the Finalíssima.

It was not the only award for England, as Mary Earps, the clear favorite, won the award for best goalkeeper. Cata Coll and Mackenzie Arnold, and he added that award to the World Cup Golden Glove, where he lost the final to Spain despite stopping a Hermosa penalty.
In the Puskas award, Guilherme Madruga, who scored a bicycle kick with Botafogo in Brazil’s Serie B, emerged victorious ahead of Paraguayan Julio Encis’s missile and rabona from Nuno Santos, from Portugal’s Sporting, against him Boavista.

The award for the best fan went to Hugo Miguel Íñiguez, a Colon fan from Santa Fe who was filmed in the stands of the stadium breastfeeding his son while chanting.
Voices from Best 25% of them are shared by national coaches, national captains, a group of journalists and the votes of fans.