Alexia Putellas and Robert Lewandowski are the best in the world

Alexia Putellas put the finishing touch to a dream year this Monday with her third great individual award of 2021, by being recognized with FIFA’s The Best, after having won the Ballon d’Or in November, after the UEFA best player award . In the case of Robert Lewandowski, he was recognized for the second consecutive year as the best footballer in the world. For the Polish striker of Bayern Munich, his victory in The Best, awarded by captains and coaches, is an act of reparation against Leo Messi, who won the 2021 Ballon d’Or and did not vote for the Pole for the award. FIFA, while for Barcelona’s Spanish midfielder it is her confirmation as the undisputed number one in women’s football.

Just as Putellas became the second Spanish player to win the Ballon d’Or, after Luis Suárez in 1960, this Monday she was elevated as the most outstanding on the planet for FIFA, ahead of the also azulgrana Jennifer Hermoso and the Australian Sam Kerr (Chelsea). The captain of the triplet champion Barça (Champions, League and Cup) and the Spanish team met the forecasts that considered her the main favorite to win the award, before Lewandowski put an end to the uncertainty that surrounded a male award that also Messi and the Egyptian Mohamed Salah aspired.

«I have to thank all my colleagues, because this belongs to everyone. This award is going to make me continue with the same motivation or more for this year, and we hope that we will also have a lot of success”, wished Alexia Putellas, who as the main reference of women’s football that continues to grow stressed that “in Spain there is a lot of talent and What was needed is work and time». “It’s been many years of work and we needed a project to make the (Spanish) players the best in the world. Barca is doing a tremendous job so that this does not stay here,” stressed Alexia Putellas, who described her 2021 as “a perfect year.”

How could it be otherwise, Lewandowski also thanked his teammates and coaches. “We all work very hard,” said the 33-year-old scorer who in 2021 scored 69 goals in a calendar year and broke the record of the late Torpedo Müller. “I dreamed of breaking that mark. I got it by scoring 41 goals. I thought it was impossible to score so many goals in the Bundesliga, but I did it,” recalled Lewandowski, who equaled Cristiano Ronaldo with two The Best awards, as the Portuguese won them in 2016 and 2017.

Cristiano, “four or five more years”

Cristiano Ronaldo was also awarded during the FIFA gala for his career, as the international footballer with the most goals, and also entered the best eleven of the year, along with, among others, Lewandowski, Messi and Haaland. Less than a month after his 37th birthday, Cristiano even assured that he hopes to play “four or five more years, because it’s all mental, and if you physically treat your body well, it will respond when you ask it.”

In the women’s category, however, surprisingly neither Alexia Putellas nor Jennifer Hermoso, Silver Ball and top scorer in women’s football worldwide, with 51 goals (35 in the Primera Iberdrola, nine in the Champions League, one in the Copa de la Reina and six with Spain). The Barcelona striker had to give in again to Putellas, who is already part of a list of The Best that was created in 2016 and in which mythical names such as the Brazilian Marta Vieira (2018) and the American Megan Rapinoe (2019) stand out. ). Until this edition, no Spanish soccer player had even been nominated among the three finalists for the award, but this time Putellas and Hermoso did it.

Pep Guardiola and Lluís Cortés, however, were left without the award for the best men’s and women’s football coaches, respectively. The prizes in both categories went to Thomas Tuchel and Emma Hayes, Chelsea managers. The German coach of the European champion said he was “impressed” by his victory against Roberto Mancini, Italy coach, and Guardiola (Manchester City). The British coach also declared herself “surprised” at having imposed herself on the Barça coach and Sarina Wiegman, the coach of the Netherlands and later of England.

The Senegalese Edouard Mendy was previously crowned best goalkeeper in the FIFA The Best awards, whose sixth edition took place virtually from Zurich (Switzerland). The goalkeeper, who won the Champions League with Chelsea, defeated the Italian Gianluigi Donnarumma, one of the heroes of the European Championship won by Italy, and Manuel Neuer, winner of the Bundesliga, the Club World Cup, the German Super Cup and the European Super Cup with Bayern, who defended the title that he tied in 2020 by beating Jan Oblak and Alisson Becker.

Christiane Endler was chosen as the best goalkeeper of the year. An award in which the Chilean goalkeeper, a former PSG player who currently plays for Olympique de Lyon, beat Hedvig Lindahl, the Swedish goalkeeper for Atlético de Madrid; Ann-Katrin Berger, Chelsea’s German goalkeeper; Stephanie Lynn Marie Labbé, Canadian goalkeeper for Rosengard and PSG; as well as Alyssa Naeher, an American from the Chicago Red Stars.

The gala opened with a recognition for Christine Sinclair, honored as the top scorer in history for national teams. Canada’s captain has registered 185 goals to date.

The coveted Puskas award, which rewards the best goal of the year, went to the Argentine Erik Lamela, distinguished for the great goal from rabona that the current Sevilla footballer scored against Arsenal when he was wearing the Tottenham shirt. A goal that was considered better than the spectacular goal of the Czech Patrik Shick from midfield against Scotland in the European Championship and the Chilean goal that Mehdi Taremi scored for Porto against Chelsea in the Champions League.

The FIFA Fair Play Award honored the Danish national football team for helping Christian Eriksen when the red dynamite star collapsed from cardiac arrest in the second match of the multi-venue European Championship held last summer . A moment that stunned the world and put the hearts of fans around the planet on edge. The fans of Denmark and Finland, the rival in that match, were recognized with the prize for the best fans.