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Revealed! Ronaldo, Kane, Bale and Neuer voted for FIFA 'The Best' Men's Player of 2021 winner Lewandowski

By clinching the FIFA's Best Men's Player award for the second time, Robert Lewandowski has now equalled Cristiano Ronaldo's record.

football FIFA The Best 2021 Cristiano Ronaldo Harry Kane Gareth Bale Manuel Neuer voted for winner Robert Lewandowski
Author
Zürich, First Published Jan 18, 2022, 12:15 PM IST

It was a night that saw Bayern Munich's prolific striker Robert Lewandowski bag the prestigious FIFA The Best 2021 Men's Player of the Year award for the second time following yet another dream run in the attack for Bundesliga giants. Following the ceremony at FIFA's headquarters in Zurich, voting has now been revealed to show how each international captain picked the top three players of last year. 

According to the Daily Mail, the votes show how the Polish forward claimed the award, with many of Lewandowski's rivals voting in favour of him to grab the top honour. The award is voted for by the captain and manager of each recognised FIFA nation and a media representative.

Portugal captain Cristiano Ronaldo, England's Harry Kane, Wales' Gareth Bale and Germany's Manuel Neuer all voted for the 33-year-old striker as their number one pick for the award. As for Robert Lewandowski, his top pick was Chelsea's midfielder Jorginho, who was also Egypt's Mohamed Salah and England coach Gareth Southgate's top choice. The Polish captain picked Paris Saint-Germain's Lionel Messi as his second choice, followed by Cristiano Ronaldo. 

Ronaldo, who was honoured by FIFA for becoming the all-time leading goalscorer at the international level, barely appeared in people's top three votes, with the Manchester United star snubbed by former teammates such as Gareth Bale and Luka Modric. The 36-year-old, who gave his top vote to Lewandowski, picked Chelsea midfielders N'Golo Kante and Jorginho as his second and third choice, respectively.
 
Argentina captain Lionel Messi voted for Paris Saint-Germain teammate Neymar as 'The Best' Player of 2021, followed by Frenchmen Kylian Mbappe and Karim Benzema rounding off the former Barcelona legend's top three picks.

Here's a look at the FIFA Men's Player of the Year 2021 voting:

Argentina, Lionel Messi: Neymar, Kylian Mbappé, Karim Benzema

Belgium, Eden Hazard: Karim Benzema, Kevin De Bruyne, Jorginho

Croatia, Luka Modrić: Karim Benzema, Jorginho, Robert Lewandowsk

Egypt, Mohamed Salah: Jorginho, Lionel Messi, Robert Lewandowski

England, Harry Kane: Robert Lewandowski, Lionel Messi, N’Golo Kanté

Germany, Manuel Neuer: Robert Lewandowski, Mohamed Salah, N’Golo Kanté

Netherlands, Virgil van Dijk: Mohamed Salah, Robert Lewandowski, N’Golo Kanté

Poland, Robert Lewandowski: Jorginho, Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo 

Portugal, Cristiano Ronaldo: Robert Lewandowski, N’Golo Kanté, Jorginho

Spain, Sergio Busquets: Lionel Messi, Robert Lewandowski, Erling Haaland

Wales, Gareth Bale: Robert Lewandowski, Karim Benzema, Mohamed Salah

Coach England, Gareth Southgate: Jorginho, Kevin De Bruyne, Lionel Messi 

Meanwhile, the choice of the 'The Best' XI of 2021 sparked controversy across social media platforms, with football fans arguing over the number of Premier League players being missed out despite being nominated and winning other awards in the night. Despite bagging the FIFA Goalkeeper of the Year award, Chelsea's Edouard Mendy was omitted from the 'The Best' XI with PSG's Gianluigi Donarumma instead of bagging the goalkeeper position. Liverpool's star striker Mohamed Salah was nominated in the top three for the Player of the Year 2021, which made the Egyptian's omission from a starting XI even stranger.

Here's a look at FIFA's 'The Best' Men's World XI:

Goalkeeper: Gianluigi Donnarumma - Paris Saint-Germain

Defenders: David Alaba - Real Madrid, Ruben Dias - Manchester City, Leonardo Bonucci - Juventus

Midfielders: Jorginho - Chelsea, N'Golo Kante - Chelsea, Kevin De Bruyne - Manchester City

Forwards: Cristiano Ronaldo - Manchester United, Erling Haaland - Borussia Dortmund, Robert Lewandowski - Bayern Munich, Lionel Messi - Paris Saint-Germain, Argentina

Meanwhile, the best manager of the year award went to Chelsea's Thomas Tuchel, who beat Italy's Roberto Mancini and Manchester City's Pep Guardiola, having bagged the UEFA Champions League in 2021 with the Blues. Argentine forward Erik Lamela clinched the Puskas Award for his "rabona" goal for Tottenham Hotspur against North-London rivals Arsenal.

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