David Alaba insists Austria vote for Messi over Benzema as Best Men’s Player was decided ‘as a team’
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David Alaba faces racial abuse online after voting for Lionel Messi over Real Madrid teammate Karim Benzema at the FIFA Best Awards… as he is forced to clarify that it was the Austrian team’s decision.
- Austria voted for Messi as their top choice for the award, with Benzema coming in second.
- Alaba, who captains the country, has received racist insults online for his vote
- But he insists that the decision not to choose his Madrid colleague was not entirely his.
David Alaba insists Austria’s vote for Lionel Messi as FIFA’s Best Men’s Player was decided “as a team and not just me” after he was attacked with racist abuse for not choosing his Real teammate Madrid, Karim Benzema.
Messi was crowned the world’s best men’s soccer player at FIFA’s annual awards ceremony on Monday night, just over two months since he captained Argentina to the World Cup in Qatar.
The PSG superstar edged out his club teammate Kylian Mbappe and Benzema, who finished third in the voting, to claim his second The Best title and first since 2019.
The award is voted on by coaches, captains and journalists from all nations, and following Monday’s ceremony, FIFA has published a full breakdown of who chose whom.
Surprisingly, the voting breakdown shows that Alaba, who captains Austria, opted for Messi as his first choice over Benzema, rather than choosing his Madrid colleague in second and Mbappé in third.
David Alaba (right) has been forced to defend that Austria did not vote for his Real Madrid teammate Karim Benzema (left) as FIFA Men’s Player of the Year.
A full breakdown of the voting results showed that Alaba voted for Lionel Messi instead.
The Madrid defender has been the target of vile racist insults for his decision to sign Messi
But Alaba took to Twitter to insist that Austria made its decision collectively.
The defense’s vote was not to the liking of the white fans, so much so that he was attacked with vile racist messages and calls to leave his club on social networks.
However, after receiving the sickening abuse, Alaba came out and clarified that Austria’s vote for Messi was a collective decision.
He posted on Twitter: “Regarding FIFA The Best award: The Austrian national team votes for this award as a team, not just me.” Everyone on the team council can vote and that’s how it’s decided.
‘Everyone knows, especially Karim, how much I admire him and his performances.’
Benzema had to settle for third place in the voting despite inspiring Madrid’s stunning Champions League triumph last season.
The French striker scored three successive hat-tricks in round of 16 and quarter-final victories over PSG and Chelsea, before scoring a crucial goal in their return win against the Blues.
He also fired home three goals on both legs as they beat Manchester City in the semi-finals.
