Messi vs Ronaldo vs Van Dijk: Who has the most chance of winning FIFA Men’s player of the year 2019?

Messi vs Ronaldo vs Van Dijk: Who has the most chance of winning FIFA Men’s player of the year 2019 at the Best FIFA Football Awards ceremony at the Teatro all Scala in Milan on Monday 23 September.

FIFA has announced the shortlist for their awards ahead of the Best FIFA Football awards. The Governing body wrote on their website:

“Voting from the key voices in the football community – players, coaches, fans and media – has helped determine the finalists’ for each award.” 

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The award that most people are looking forward to is the FIFA Men’s player of the year award. The 3 men shortlist is comprised of the usual suspects of Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo and Virgil Van Dijk. The winner for this competition will be selected by a panel of experts chosen by FIFA, comprised of former goalkeepers and strikers.

Who will be #TheBest?

We now know the finalists 👇

— FIFA (@FIFAcom) September 2, 2019

It was Virgil Van Dijk who came on top during the UEFA awards for the Best Player of the season. However, that will play little to no part here. The three men are on equal footing and we will look to unravel the three-way dreadlock of Messi vs Ronaldo vs Van Dijk to make a prognosis on who is the likelier of the 3 to clinch the prestigious award.

Cristiano Ronaldo

The joint record winner has made it to the list on the back of a trophy laden season. The Portuguese Ace won the Serie A and Supercoppa Italiana with Juventus and clinched the UEFA Nations League with Portugal, beating Netherlands in the Final. Cristiano Ronaldo won the award 2 years in a row before his former teammate Luka Modric pipped him to the award last season after a phenomenal showing with both club and country.

Ronaldo has failed to notch the numbers he is usually associated with. Ronaldo scored 21 goals in the Serie A and 28 goals and 10 assists in total for Juventus last season. However, most of his goals came at crunch situations and helped bail the team out.

His hattrick against Atletico Madrid and Switzerland proved how crucial he is to his team and their chances. Winning trophies in plenty keeps him in good stead. However, the fact that he has been outperformed both in Europe and Italy hamper his chances of adding to his 5 awards.