LIVERPOOL HAVE DONE THE DOUBLE
LEEDS BOSS HAILED FOR GIFT TO VILLA
LIVERPOOL won the double at FIFA’s Best awards here at La Scala theatre last night, with Jurgen Klopp named top coach on the planet and Alisson Becker grabbing the goalkeeper award. There was disappointment, though, for Liverpool defender Virgil van Dijk, who was on the shortlist for player of the year, but lost out to Lionel Messi. Champions League winner Klopp, who pipped Pep Guardiola and Mauricio Pochettino, said: ‘As a coach, you can only be as good as your team. I am really proud to be manager of an incredible group of players.’
LEEDS UNITED and their manager Marcelo Bielsa, who were fined £200,000 for Spygate, were honoured with FIFA’s fair play award last night.
The Argentine manager, who masterminded a clandestine operation which saw a member of staff rumbled while spying on a Derby training session, was announced as the winner at Milan’s historic La Scala theatre.
Back in January, as the scandal unfolded, Bielsa made a full admission and, in an extraordinary press conference, disclosed spying on opponents’ training sessions was something he had overseen on a regular basis throughout his career.
However, he won the fair play award last night for ordering his team to allow Aston Villa to equalise uncontested, after Leeds had taken the lead when a Villa player was down injured during a match in April.
Derby forward Mason Bennett was quick to react to the award on Twitter, posting a series of crying laughing emojis and the word ‘liberty’. Elsewhere in The Best FIFA Football Awards, Jurgen Klopp won coach of the year and Alisson was named best goalkeeper. But Liverpool were denied a treble when Virgil van Dijk lost out on the player of the year award to Barcelona forward Lionel Messi. Cristiano Ronaldo, the other player on the three-man shortlist, skipped the event.
A delighted Klopp, whose team won the Champions League last season, paid tribute to his players and owners.
‘As a coach you can only be as good as your team,’ he said. ‘I am really proud to be manager of an incredible group of players. Thank you to my outstanding club. Whoever doesn’t love it has no heart. I don’t understand 100 per cent individual prizes. But I get it. I’m here for a lot of people.’
Klopp hailed the shortlisted managers — Mauricio Pochettino, whose Tottenham side Liverpool defeated to lift the European Cup in Madrid, and Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola. ‘Mauricio, I won that game, that’s why I’m here, not you. That’s just how football is but we all know what an incredible job you did, and what an incredible job Pep did.’
The German used his speech to reveal that he has joined Common Goal, a movement of footballers and staff who donate at least one per cent of their salaries to support global charities.
Klopp said: ‘From today, I am a member of the Common Goal family. If you don’t know it, google it!’
USA World Cup winner Megan Rapinoe won the women’s player award. Her boss, Portsmouth-born Jill Ellis, won the women’s coach award ahead of Phil Neville.