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Liverpool defender Virgil van Dijk was only seven votes away from stopping Barcelona star Lionel Messi claiming his sixth Ballon d’Or.
The votes for the award have been released by France Football via Sport Witness and show just how close the polling was as the world tried to split Van Dijk and Messi.
Messi fired 51 goals for Barcelona across the 2018-19 season, while Van Dijk led Liverpool’s charge to their sixth European Cup, defeating Messi and Barcelona on the way. But it was the Argentina star, who also won La Liga last season, who emerged victorious.
Messi received 686 points for his achievements, while Van Dijk fell narrowly short on 679. They left third-place Cristiano Ronaldo behind — the Juventus forward had 476 votes and Van Dijk’s team-mates Sadio Mane and Mohamed Salah completed the top five with 347 points and 178 respectively.
Votes work with the each player receiving, six, four, three, two or one point based on their ranking from each individual voter.
Overall, it was a proud night for Liverpool with three players in the top five and seven nominated overall.
And a review of how the votes fell show that Trent Alexander-Arnold seems to have established quite a fanbase for himself in Sri Lanka, as they chose him as the best player in the world.
The young right-back ranked at 19th in the overall standings, two places behind Salah and Mane’s attacking partner, Roberto Firmino. Georginio Wijnaldum came 26th and Alisson was seventh.
Online Reporter