Robert Lewandowski named Men's Player of the Year 2021 - Best FIFA Football Awards as it happened!
Bayern Munich's Robert Lewandowski has retained his award as the Best FIFA Men's Player. Relive proceedings below...
+++LEWANDOWSKI RETAINS!+++
Lewandowski is the Best Fifa Men's Player for the second year in a row! Deservedly so!!
"Thank you I am very honoured to win this trophy," he said after learning he'd retained the accolade. "I feel very proud. This belongs to my teammates and coaches. I say 'thank you' to Gerd Muller, the next step was to try and break that record."
+++ALEXIA PUTELLAS WOMEN'S BEST PLAYER+++
The Women's Ballon d'Or winner takes the prize. Will Lewandowski win the men's equivalent for the second year, having missed out on the Ballon d'Or to Messi?
+++HAALANDOWSKI+++
Imagine if these two really did line up in the same team. What a pleasure it is to have the two best forwards in world football in the Bundesliga!
Watch: How Lewandowski and Haaland compare
+++HAALAND AND LEWANDOWSKI IN BEST MEN'S XI+++
Dortmund's Erling Haaland joins Lewandowski in thw world XI. The 21-year-old scored 43 goals in as many competitive games in 2021, top scoring in the Champions League, with 10. There's also a spot for David Alaba, who won a record 10th Bundesliga title with Bayern last term, before moving to Real Madrid.
Team in full: Gianluigi Donnarumma; David Alaba, Ruben Dias, Leonardo Bonucci; Jorginho, N’Golo Konte, Kevin de Bruyne; Cristiano Ronaldo, Erling Haaland, Robert Lewandowski, Lionel Messi.
+++BEST WOMEN'S XI+++
Best Women's XI:Christiane Endler (PSG/Lyon/Chile), Lucy Bronze (Man City/England), Millie Bright (Chelsea/England), Magdalena Eriksson (Chelsea/Sweden), Wendie Renard (Lyon/France), Estefania Banini (Levante/Atletico Madrid/Argentina), Barbara Bonansea (Juventus/Italy), Carli Lloyd (NY/NJ Gotham/USA), Marta (Orlando Pride/Brazil), Vivianne Miedema (Arsenal/Netherlands), Alex Morgan (Tottenham/Orlando Pride/San Diego Wave/USA).
+++TUCHEL WINS BEST COACH+++
Hansi Flick was last year's winner. Thomas Tuchel, who honed his craft in the Bundesliga with Mainz and Dortmund, beats Pep Guardiola and Roberto Mancini to it this time round. The German boss won the 2020/21 Champions League with Chelsea.
Chelsea's Emma Hayes takes the Women's Best Coach prize, while Denmark and Finland supporters are presented the Fifa fans award.
+++BAYERN BACKING LEWANDOWSKI+++
The Bayern camp are right behind their talisman.
"It's important for every footballer when you win awards and honours, both on a team and personal level. I would be very happy if he won it, it would be well-deserved. Besides the goals, one of his great qualities is that he wants to, and can, initiate lots of attacks and then sprints into the box and waits for a cross or rebound." - Julian Nagelsmann (head coach)
"I wish for both of them that they win their respective awards. They've both been very consistent in recent years at levels no one else has played at in their position. That's why they deserve it." - teammate Serge Gnabry on Lewandowski and Neuer
Watch: Julian Nagelsmann on "perfect" Lewandowski
Want more Bundesliga Action?
+++TEAM DENMARK WIN FAIR PLAY AWARD+++
Denmark’s medical team and players win the FIFA Fair Play award for their actions to save the life of Christian Eriksen at Euro 2020.
+++ SCHICK MISSES OUT+++
Leverkusen striker Patrik Schick's audacious goal from halfway at Euro 2020 is trumped by Erik Lamela's Rabona effort in the Puskas awards.
+++NOT NEUER'S YEAR+++
Manuel Neuer is dethroned. It's not often you see those words! Chelsea's Edouard Mendy takes the Best Goalkeeper prize. The Bayern No.1 will always be top dog in our eyes, mind.
+++TOP OF THE SHOTS+++
Already honoured with Striker of the Year, European Golden Shoe and Golden Player gongs, it's been an unforgettable 12 months for Lewandowski.
The Poland striker broke the Bundesliga record for most goals in a single season in 2020/21 (41), and set a new gold standard for calendar year goals (43).
With 41 goals in 29 Bundesliga appearances, he comfortably outscored the likes of Lionel Messi (30) and Cristiano Ronaldo (29) in 2020/21.
Watch: How Lewandowski stormed to the Golden Shoe
+++BEST STRIKER ON THE PLANET+++
Aiming for a second successive win in the The Best FIFA Men’s Player category, Bayern Munich's superstar striker, Lewandowski, is hoping to hold off competition from fellow nominees Lionel Messi and Mohamed Salah and add a very special endnote to what has been one more wonderful year in an outstanding career.
Watch: All of Lewy's Bundesliga goals in 2021
+++THE YEAR OF LEWANDOWSKI+++
Among recent memorable moments for the colossal goalscorer were the lifting of the FIFA Club World Cup last February as part of a famous sextuple. The 33-year-old netted a brace against Al Ahly in the semi-finals, before going on to feature prominently in the showpiece, where the Bavarians downed Tigres 1-0 to collect the silverware.
Lewy collected a ninth Bundesliga winners' medal - and his seventh in-a-row with Bayern - while he also took home a sixth Bundesliga top goalscorer cannon, also becoming the first player to win that particular prize four times in succession.
Added to all of that, today's nominee for Best FIFA Men’s Player broke legend Gerd Müller's record for most goals in a Bundesliga season, with Lewy finding the net 41 times in 29 games to surpass Müller's previous best of 40 in 34 matches in 1971/72 season.
He then rounded off the year by pinching another place off Der Bomber in the record books, this time for the most Bundesliga goals in a calendar year, with 43 in 34 appearances.
And the Polish express is still motoring past his rivals as he clocks up the accolades. As recently as last weekend, Lewandowski registered a superb hat-trick against Cologne to bring his overall Bundesliga tally to 300 goals. What more could possibly be asked of the great man as he looks to come out on top in Zurich this evening?
+++NEUER THE BEST GK?+++
Another hoping to feature in the Swiss prize-giving ceremony is Bayern captain, Neuer, who is in the running alongside Italy and Paris Saint-Germain custodian, Gianluigi Donnarumma, and Edouard Mendy of Senegal and Chelsea for the Best FIFA Men’s Goalkeeper. Neuer is looking to triumph in this category for the second year running.
Currently in his eleventh season with Bayern, the 35-year-old custodian became the Bundesliga goalkeeper with the most clean sheets (205) back in March, beating Oliver Kahn's previous best. Neuer also won an incredible ninth Bundesliga title on the bounce with the Bavarian giants and was a key part of the Germany team that qualified for the forthcoming FIFA World Cup in Qatar.
Watch: Manuel Neuer - a cut above the rest
+++SCHICK FROM DOWNTOWN!+++
Eagle-eyed Bundesliga fans will also want to keep tabs on the FIFA Puskas Award - or goal of the year - with Bayer Leverkusen's formidable frontman, Schick, among the final nominees for his sensational strike for the Czech Republic against Scotland during last summer's rescheduled UEFA Euro 2020.
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