Individual awards cause no shortage of controversy and debate, regardless of who wins them, and the FIFA Best Awards were no different on Monday night. That said few will begrudge Lionel Messi his success, following the crowning moment of the greatest career in the 21st century.
Luis de la Fuente did not see it as sufficient to be named ‘The Best’ though. The Spain manager has raised a number of Spanish eyebrows with his voting choices for the award, which is decided by mostly international coaches and captains, as well as media representatives from each country.
The man replacing Luis Enrique elected that one of Messi’s teammates, Manchester City forward Julian Alvarez was the best in the world last year, while Borussia Dortmund star Jude Bellingham was second, and Real Madrid veteran Luka Modric was placed third, as per Cadena SER.
While people probably place too much importance on the awards, and perhaps give too much credit to how much time managers and players dedicate to choosing, de la Fuente’s choices are particularly peculiar. With the exception of perhaps Bellingham, there is a strong argument that neither of the other two were the best player in their respective sides, let alone in the world.
