FIFA Best Men’s Player of the Year 2019: Twitter reacts as Lionel Messi beats Virgil van Dijk and Cristiano Ronaldo to the award

Barcelona captain Lionel Messi has been named the FIFA Best Men’s Player of the Year at the Best FIFA award ceremony on Monday night, ahead of fellow nominees Virgil van Dijk and Cristiano Ronaldo.

The Argentina international was recognised for his scintillating exploits for the Catalan giants last season, during which he tallied 51 goals and 22 assists in 58 games in all competitions.

The 32-year-old forward registered 36 goals in La Liga alone and was subsequently presented with the European Golden Shoe and the Pichichi Trophy.

The win marks the sixth time that Messi has won the award, thereby beating Ronaldo to become the record holder of the FIFA title.

The talismanic pair shared a monopoly over the award for a decade before Luka Modric broke the cycle when he swooped all individual prizes last year.

In the final voting, Messi finished with 46 points, Van Dijk with 38 points and Ronaldo with 36 points. The top ten was completed by Mohamed Salah (26), Sadio Mane (23), Kylian Mbappe (17), Frenkie de Jong (16), Eden Hazard (16), Matthijs de Ligt (9) and Harry Kane (5).

The Blaugrana superstar was also included in FIFA's Team of the Year alongside the likes of Sergio Ramos, Kylian Mbape and Eden Hazard.

Messi led Barcelona to their fourth La Liga title in five seasons but was heavily tipped to miss out on individual prizes, owing to the Spanish champions' collapses in the UEFA Champions League and the Copa del Rey earlier this year.

His performances with Argentina in the Copa America were also subjected to heavy criticism and were believed to be a stumbling block for him in the race for individual prizes this year.

This is how Twitter reacted to the news of Messi winning the award:

Lionel #Messi is the only footballer in history that has won the Golden Boot, Pichichi and FIFA "The Best" award all in the same year.Simply the greatest of all-time 🐐 pic.twitter.com/I894fHlMif

— Shaun (@FCBShaun) September 23, 2019

FIFA have released the votes on the Best player of the year award:Votes in order from 1st choice to 3rd:Messi: Mané, Ronaldo, de Jong.Ronaldo: de Ligt, de Jong, Mbappé.VVD: Messi, Salah, Mané.Cristiano forever taking no chances! 😂😂😂

— Footy Accumulators (@FootyAccums) September 23, 2019

Lionel Messi wins the best award meaning he automatically wins the FIFA Ballon D’or and takes the deserved lead yet again

— madan (@EnjoyArthur) September 23, 2019

Let’s get this out of the way, the award is meaningless to Messi himself and we all know it. I’m just happy that he finally catches a break after 5 months of letdowns.

— Rafael Hernández (@RafaelH117) September 23, 2019

Messi is one of the greatest footballers of All time, We agree but these awards are about who had the best season not who has had the best 10 years. Van Dijk had the better season

— Imoh (@ImohUmoren) September 23, 2019

Messi FC when Messi won #TheBest men's player award pic.twitter.com/X9mcQ5zWNy

— Anuculé (@MessiShoots) September 23, 2019

Golden boot ✅Pichichi ✅FIFA The Best ✅Ballon d'Or 🕒 Awards season is only starting for Messi pic.twitter.com/FJjEvwdaNe

— Shaun (@FCBShaun) September 23, 2019

To be fair Van Dijk should have won that over Messi. But it's boring Messi or Ronaldo love in now every year. Just because they're GOATs doesnt mean they had the best season

— Mark Goldbridge (@markgoldbridge) September 23, 2019

Ronaldo voting for De Ligt as his first choice for Best FIFA Men's Player and not even having Messi or Van Dijk in his top three makes a bit of a mockery of the whole thing, really.

— Joel Rabinowitz (@joel_archie) September 23, 2019

Lionel Messi won it on individual grounds, fair. I personally wouldn’t have been able to digest Virgil Van Dijk win a Ballon D Or or FIFA The best in an era where Sergio Ramos failed to win it despite being a monster for years.

— Ashish Romea (RMadridEngineer) (@RMadridEngineer) September 23, 2019