Real Madrid fans, and likely those within the club, have been left perplexed after Vinicius Junior was once again left out of the top 10 for an individual award.
UEFA announced their shortlist for the Men’s Player of the Year on Thursday, with Erling Haaland, Kevin de Bruyne and Lionel Messi the top three. The winner will be announced at the Champions League draw on the 31st of August.
The shortlist included in order from there Ilkay Gundogan, Rodri, Kylian Mbappe, Luka Modric, Marcelo Brozovic, Declan Rice, Alexis Mac Allister and Jesus Navas. Notably four of the top five came from Champions League winners Manchester City.
Pep Guardiola is expected to win the Manager of the Year award too, with Simone Inzaghi and Luciano Spalletti his rivals. In the top 10 were Spaniards Mikel Arteta (5th) and Jose Luis Mendilibar (7th).
What has really frustrated Madridistas is the lack of Vinicius though. The Br azilian got 10 goals and 10 assists in 33 La Liga games last season, but was even more crucial on their run to the Champions League semi-final. Scoring 4 goals and grabbing 7 assists, Vinicius led the attack for Real Madrid, and scored one of the goals of the tournament against Manchester City.
Vinicius was also snubbed from the FIFA Best awards in February, which were supposed to take into account the calendar year of 2022, in which he was one of the best in the world.
The award is voted on by managers of clubs who made the Champions League, Europa League, and Conference League group stages, national team managers within UEFA, and a select panel of journalists. The initial shortlist was selected by a UEFA technical team.
It appears that while Vinicius may have convinced most of Spain that he is one of the world’s top players, he still has some way to go with others within the UEFA catchment. This season he will have another chance to do just that, as he is slated to lead the Real Madrid attack.