Chelsea star Thiago Silva has labelled FIFA’s Best awards a ‘joke’ after Manchester City’s Julian Alvarez finished surprisingly high up the final list.
On Monday night, Lionel Messi was crowned the Best FIFA Men’s Player, as voted by media representatives, national team coaches, national team captains and fans, ahead of Karim Benzema and Kylian Mbappe.
While very few could argue with the top three, the rest of the 14-man shortlist made for some interesting reading, with Luka Modric, Erling Haaland, and Sadio Mane finishing fourth, fifth and sixth respectively.
However, eyebrows were really raised when it was revealed that World Cup winner Alvarez had come seventh despite being not being a regular for his club or country.
The forward has scored just five Premier League goals since moving to City last summer, though he netted four in Qatar as Argentina won the World Cup.
With 17 votes to his name, the 23-year-old finished ahead of the likes of Neymar, Kevin De Bruyne, Vinicius Junior, Robert Lewandowski and Mohamed Salah.
Some could not understand how this came to be, not least Silva who took to Instagram to post the words: ‘Joke right there,’ in reference to Alvarez’s ranking.
But the forward has his defenders, not least his international captain Messi who showered the young star with praise after the ceremony.
‘During the whole World Cup, he was extraordinary,’ the 35-year-old PSG star said.
‘He ran everything. He fought for everything – creating chances, fighting. For us, he was the surprising discovery, and he deserves everything that has happened to him because he is a lovely guy.’
Alavrez was recently in action for City in the FA Cup win at Bristol City on Tuesday night, providing the assist for Phil Foden’s second goal.
He’ll hope to be in the starting XI again for the Citizens’ big game on Saturday when they host high-flying Newcastle as they look to close the gap to league leaders Arsenal.
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