Kylian Mbappe lauds club team-mate Lionel Messi for winning FIFA’s The Best award
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‘Another home trophy’: Kylian Mbappe praises teammate Lionel Messi for winning FIFA’s The Best award, despite Argentina only naming his PSG teammate third behind Neymar
- Lionel Messi was named the men’s player of the year at the awards on Monday.
- Kylian Mbappe congratulated his PSG teammate on social media after
- The Argentine praised his teammates for helping him achieve his ‘dream’ in Qatar
Kylian Mbappé congratulates Lionel Messi after the Argentine was named FIFA’s Men’s Player of the Year.
Messi, 35, picked up the award for the second time in his career ahead of French strikers Mbappe and Karim Benzema after their World Cup exploits late last year.
Despite Messi only putting his teammate in third place behind Neymar and Benzema, Mbappe took to social media to joke that the Argentine has even more covered at home.
“Another trophy at home,” he wrote. ‘Many congratulations to Lionel Messi. You are the best.’
Mbappé finished second in the overall men’s voting behind Messi. Both were named, along with his Paris Saint-Germain teammate Achraf Hakimi, among the team of the year.
Lionel Messi was named the best male player by FIFA at a glamorous awards ceremony in Paris on Monday night.
The Argentine surpassed his teammate Kylian Mbappé and Karim Benzema in the prize
Taking the stage to collect his gong in Paris on Monday night, Messi said he had achieved his “dream” by winning the World Cup with Argentina, ending a 36-year drought dating back to 1986.
After overcoming heartbreak in 2014, losing to Germany and then a terrible campaign marred by camp infighting, Argentina ended their World Cup hoodoo, triumphing in Qatar.
‘It’s amazing. It’s been a tremendous year and it’s an honor for me to be here and win this award. Without my teammates I wouldn’t be here,’ she said.
‘I achieved the dream that I had been waiting for so long. Very few people can achieve that and I have been lucky enough to do it.’
Argentina beat Mbappé’s France in the final, despite the PSG star scoring a brilliant hat-trick to drag the game to penalties.
Other award winners on the night included Mbappé’s final World Cup nemesis, Emi Martínez, who picked up the award for best male goalkeeper.
“They always ask me who my idols are or who I watched when I was a kid…watching my mom clean buildings for eight or nine hours and watching my dad work,” he said upon receiving his award. ‘They are my idols.’
Both players were named in the team of the year, along with PSG right-back Achraf Hakimi.
Lionel Scaloni, the World Cup-winning Argentine coach, received the award for best men’s coach from Fabio Capello.
Mary Earps claimed the award for best female goalkeeper before delivering a rousing speech.
Sarina Wiegman, for leading the Lionesses to victory last summer, won The Best Women’s Coach
In the women’s section, Beth Mead was named the third best player behind Barcelona and the Spanish Alexia Putellas and Alex Morgan.
Mary Earps, who played throughout England’s successful European Championship campaign last year, was named the best goalkeeper. She used her speech to urge people that there is ‘light at the end of the tunnel’ in the midst of darker times.
“For anyone who’s been in a dark place, know there’s light at the end of the tunnel, so keep going,” he said. ‘You can achieve anything you set your mind to.’
Lionel Scaloni was named the men’s coach of the year, while Sarina Wiegman picked up the award for the women’s side.