Messi, Ronaldo and Van Dyck compete for the title of best player in Europe

UEFA will announce the winner of the European Footballer's Trophy of the year 2019, which will be played by Virgil van Dyke, defender of Liverpool and the Netherlands, Cristiano Ronaldo, striker of Juventus and Portugal, and Lionel Messi, star of Barcelona and Argentina.

Last year, Croatian Luka Modric, star of Real Madrid, ended the domination of Ronaldo and Messi. This year, Van Dyck should leave Messi and Ronaldo empty-handed, after a fantastic season in Liverpool.

Lionel Messi

Since the launch of this European title in 2011, Messi has won it only twice in 2011 and 2015, and figures in the final list of candidates for 2019 after a special season during which the Argentine player has helped his Barcelona team win the title of La Liga.

From July 2018 to the same month of 2019, Messi was the undisputed top scorer in Barcelona. This season, he scored 54 goals for his team and Spain with a goal every 86 minutes.

The number of goals scored by the Barcelona star exceeded expectations that he could have scored for the Catalan club with 35.62 goals in the 2018-19 season, but he scored 51 goals. Messi also outperformed all European leagues to become the top scorer, followed by Robert Lewandowski, the top scorer in Bayern Munich, who scored 40 goals.

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Cristiano Ronaldo

Cristiano Ronaldo has been named European Footballer of the Year three times since the title was launched in 2014, 2016 and 2017, and is also one of the nominees for this year's award.

Ronaldo was one of the most important factors that allowed Juventus to win the Serie A title this season thanks to goals and goals from the sector.

From July 2018 to the same month of 2019, the Portuguese scored 31 goals for Italy and Portugal with a goal every 127 minutes.

Ronaldo and Juventus scored 28 goals, nearly 28.3 as expected, but three players in Serie A still beat Ronaldo.

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Wall bodice

Since joining Liverpool from Southampton, Virgil van Dijk has become a regular in Liverpool and has led him to the Champions League title last season.

A defender has never won the title of European footballer of the year. Placing the Liverpool defender on the list of short-listed candidates is therefore a major feat.

The Dutch defender made 59 appearances for Liverpool last season with nine goals and four goals. He also has the longest playing time compared to his teammates with 4465 minutes.

The player also managed to get the ball from the competitors by playing in about 70% of the bilateral clashes, both on the ground and in the air, during the past season.

Last season, Liverpool scored the smallest number of goals in the Premier League (22 goals) under the direction of Captain Virgil van Dyck.