Virgil Van Dijk wins UEFA 'Player of the Year' award; Messi, Alisson Becker and Frenkie De Jong bags major honours

NYON(SWITZERLAND): Virgil van Dijk won the Men's Player of the Year award for the 2018/19 UEFA Champions League campaign on Thursday. Van Dijk competed against Juventus' Cristiano Ronaldo and Barcelona's Lionel Messi for the honour. He had 305 points under his belt while Messi had 207 points. Ronaldo had to settle on the third spot with just 74 points. Apart from this, the 29-year-old also won the Defender of the Season award. In May, Van Dijk was named Premier League Player of the Season. By doing so, he became the first defender to win the Player of the Season award in seven seasons, after Manchester City's Vincent Kompany in 2011-12. Earlier in the year, Van Dijk had won PFA Players' Player of the Season, Players' and Fans' Player of the Season.

Barcelona's Lionel Messi bagged the Forward of the Season award for the 2018/19 UEFA Champions League campaign on Thursday.

Messi had 285 points under his belt and interestingly, the second-placed Sadio Mane had only 109 points.

The Argentine was the UEFA Champions League top scorer and also the Liga top scorer and assist provider.

During the event, Van Dijk also won the Defender of the Season award while Liverpool's goalkeeper Alisson Becker won the Goalkeeper of the Season award and Frenkie De Jong was chosen as the midfielder of the season.