Football news – Lionel Messi voted FOR Cristiano Ronaldo in FIFA Best Awards

Updated 25/09/2018 at 15:46 GMT

Lionel Messi voted for Cristiano Ronaldo in the FIFA Best Men’s Player award – albeit behind Luka Modric and Kylian Mbappe.

Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo

Image credit: Getty Images

After a history of snubs involving world football’s most revered duo, Messi elected to issue Ronaldo with a solitary point in the 2018 vote. It was not enough to propel his nemesis to victory, however, as Modric ended the Ronaldo-Messi stranglehold on the award.

[HOW DID THEY VOTE: FULL LIST]

Perhaps unsurprisingly, Ronaldo was not as kind and cast his three votes for Raphael Varane, Modric and Antoine Griezmann.

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International captains and head coaches, plus journalists from FIFA member countries, were invited to pick their top three players from the 2017-18 season – with their first pick receiving five points, second receiving three points, and third receiving one point. Messi and Ronaldo got to vote as captains of Argentina and Portugal respectively.

England’s golden boot winner Harry Kane, probably still reeling from his nation’s loss to Croatia in the World Cup semi-finals, opted to ignore Modric’s stellar season in favour of Ronaldo, Messi and Kevin De Bruyne.

Meanwhile, Kane was voted the best player by an illustrious trio: Bahamas coach Dion Godet, Chinese Taipei coach Gary White and Vanuatu journalist Nase Raymond. It was not enough to make the final shortlist.

HOW DID THEY VOTE?

Captains

Lionel Messi (Argentina)

1. Luka Modric
2. Kylian Mbappe
3. Cristiano Ronaldo

Harry Kane (England)

1. Cristiano Ronaldo
2. Lionel Messi
3. Kevin De Bruyne

Hugo Lloris (France)

1. Raphael Varane
2. Antoine Griezmann
3. Kylian Mbappe

Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal)

1. Raphael Varane
2. Luka Modric
3. Antoine Griezmann

Coaches

Lionel Scaloni (Argentina)

1. Lionel Messi
2. Luka Modric
3. Mohamed Salah

Javier Aguirre (Egypt)

1. Mohamed Salah
2. Luka Modric
3. Antoine Griezmann

Gareth Southgate (England)

1. Luka Modric
2. Raphael Varane
3. Eden Hazard

Didier Deschamps (France)

1. Antoine Griezmann
2. Raphael Varane
3. Kylian Mbappe

Fernando Santos (Portugal)

1. Cristiano Ronaldo
2. Luka Modric
3. Eden Hazard

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