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Jose Mourinho incident, Van Dijk gaffe - Five things you missed from FIFA Best Awards
Lionel Messi and Megan Rapinoe scooped up the top prizes at Fifa’s The Best awards night on Monday, and Express Sport is on hand with five things you missed from the ceremony.
Barcelona’s Lionel Messi poses with FIFA Best award
Lionel Messi was crowned the best men’s player after producing a quite unbelievable year.
The Barcelona forward scored an incredible 51 goals in 50 games for club and country, as he beat out Virgil van Dijk and Cristiano Ronaldo to win the award for the sixth time.
World Cup winner Megan Rapinoe beat out stiff competition from Lucy Bronze and Alex Morgan to win the best women’s player award.
The 34-year-old, who helped guide America to World Cup glory in France this summer, used her speech to call for the football community to come together against racism, sexism, homophobia and the gender pay gap.
Here are five of the best things that you missed.
Leeds win Fair Play Award
This one caught everyone off-guard, as Leeds United were named the winners of the FIFA Fair Play award.
The Championship side won the award based off an incident last season in which Marcelo Bielsa demanded that they give Aston Villa a free goal after failing to kick the ball out.
Having gone 1-0 up against their promotion rivals, Bielsa demanded that they allow Villa to score, after they failed to kick the ball out when Jonathan Kodja went down with an injury.
Despite protests from Pontus Jansson - who still tried to foul Albert Adomah as he walked the ball into the net - Leeds boss Bielsa was insistent that they give the goal.
Rapinoe defies the watershed
Megan Rapinoe is known for being outspoken and slightly controversial at times, and gained worldwide notoriety for saying “I’m not going to the f***ing White House” in protest against President Donald Trump.
But on Monday night, after being crowned the best Women’s player, Rapinoe again hit the headlines after swearing in her acceptance speech.
After thanking her team-mates and fans, she said: “All of my teammates that put up with all my shit all the time and let me be a little bit wild at times but reel me in when I need that a well, thank you to all for them currently and all of them that I’ve played with in the past.”
Mourinho’s bizarre alien chat
Jose Mourinho strangely found himself in a conversation about life on another planet during the awards ceremony.
He was asked about the idea of the world’s best players teaming up to face players from other planets, and managed to duck away from discussing it in any detail.
Van Dijk camera gaffe
Many believed that Liverpool defender Van Dijk would win the Best Men’s Player award, and clearly the camera operators did too.
As Messi was announced as the winner, the camera quickly cut to Van Dijk, clearly expecting his name to be read.
After guiding Liverpool to Champions League glory and an incredible 98 point-season in the Premier League, there was an easy case to be made for the centre-back to win the award.
Ronaldo skips award ceremony
Ronaldo didn’t bother showing up to the award ceremony, choosing to stay in Turin instead.
The Portuguese winger was named in the team of the year, but didn’t appear in the line-up on stage.
Ronaldo also chose to vote for Matthijs de Ligt, Frankie de Jong and Kylian Mbappe, snubbing both his rivals.