Messi, Haaland and De Bruyne all had stellar seasons of their own. (Credit: Twitter)
Other notable players who fell just short of the final list include now-Barcelona man Ilkay Gundogan, Manchester City’s Rodri and Kylian Mbappe.
UEFA has officially announced the names of the top three nominees for the 2022/23 UEFA Men’s Player of the Year award. And to no one’s surprise, the nominees were: Lionel Messi of Inter Miami, Erling Haaland and Kevin De Bruyne of Manchester City.
The top three nominees were then voted for by a jury composed of the coaches of the clubs which played in the group stages of the 2022/23 UEFA Champions League, UEFA Europa League and UEFA Europa Conference League, together with the coaches of the men’s national teams of UEFA’s member associations.
Goals, goals and more goals. Three words to define Erling Haaland’s campaign last season. In his first season at City, Haaland seemingly could not stop scoring, with an impressive 12 in the UEFA Champions League – four more than his nearest challenger, Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah – and a record-breaking 36 in the Premier League. The Norwegian star also became the youngest and quickest player to make it to 35 Champions League goals in total and picked up his first winners’ medal in the competition to go with the ones he scooped as City won the Premier League and FA Cup.
The Norweigian’s brilliance was undoubtedly at full display, thanks to his partner-in-crime and nominee Kevin De Bruyne.
De Bruyne has been arguably the best midfielder across Europe since him joining Manchester City. His sublime passing ability and creativity left every team spellbound.
De Bruyne ended the Premier League campaign with the most assists (16) for the third time. He also laid on more goals (seven) than any other player in the 2022/23 Champions League – one more than Real Madrid’s Vinícius Júnior – and scooped the Player of the Match award in four of his ten appearances.
Despite the record-breaking season from Erling Haaland and the masterful show from midfield by Kevin De Bruyne, it would be difficult to not see Argentine Lionel Messi take home the crown yet again, following his emotional World Cup win in a tournament where he reigned supreme over all others and along the way, finally acquired the one trophy that had eluded him throughout his career.
Other notable players who fell just short of the final list include now-Barcelona man Ilkay Gundogan, Manchester City’s Rodri and Kylian Mbappe.
