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Lionel Messi beats Virgil van Dijk to European Player of the Season award

Messi beats Van Dijk to European Player of the Season award
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Barcelona's Lionel Messi is named as the European Player of the Season ahead of Liverpool centre-back Virgil van Dijk and Ajax captain Matthijs de Ligt.

Barcelona forward Lionel Messi has been named the European Player of the Season in Sports Mole's 2018-19 Reader Awards.

Messi was again in sensational form throughout the campaign as Barcelona retained the La Liga title, scoring 36 goals in 34 league games and 51 in 49 outings across all competitions.

The Spanish giants fell short in both the Copa del Rey and the Champions League, but Messi's individual form was still enough for him to earn 30.4% of the votes as the overall player of the season.

Virgil van Dijk, who helped Liverpool pull off a miraculous comeback over Messi's Barcelona in the semi-finals of the Champions League, came second in the voting with 20.8%.

Manchester City's Raheem Sterling was also in the top three of the voting, while Ajax skipper Matthijs de Ligt was among the frontrunners having led his club to a domestic double and the Champions League semi-finals at the age of just 19.

Juventus's Cristiano Ronaldo garnered just 8% of the votes following his move from Real Madrid last summer, while Bernardo Silva's Manchester City form earned him 7.2%.

Sadio Mane, Kylian Mbappe and Ajax duo Frenkie de Jong and Dusan Tadic also made the final shortlist.

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Liverpool defender Virgil van Dijk celebrates scoring against Newcastle on May 4, 2019
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TeamPWDLFAGDPTS
1Liverpool119112161528
2Manchester CityMan City117222213923
3Chelsea115422113819
4Arsenal115421812619
5Nottingham ForestNott'm Forest115421510519
6Brighton & Hove AlbionBrighton115421915419
7Fulham115331613318
8Newcastle UnitedNewcastle115331311218
9Aston Villa115331717018
10Tottenham HotspurSpurs1151523131016
11Brentford115152222016
12Bournemouth114341515015
13Manchester UnitedMan Utd114341212015
14West Ham UnitedWest Ham113351319-612
15Leicester CityLeicester112451421-710
16Everton112451017-710
17Ipswich TownIpswich111551222-108
18Crystal Palace11146815-77
19Wolverhampton WanderersWolves111371627-116
20Southampton11119721-144


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