Benzema, Courtois, De Bruyne up for UEFA player award

Karim Benzema, Kevin de Bruyne and Thibaut Courtois have been nominated for the 2021/22 UEFA men’s player of the year award.

The Europe’s football governing body announced the trio as candidates for the award on its website on Friday — from a shortlist of ten players.

Benzema and Courtois were part of the Real Madrid team that defeated Liverpool 1-0 to win the UEFA Champions League (UCL) in May.

Benzema was named 2021/22 UCL player of the season after his instrumental involvement in Los Blancos’ record 14th European title, and his fifth since joining from Lyon in 2009.

He was also part of the France national team side that won the 2021 UEFA nations league.

He scored over 45 goals and secured 15 assists in 48 appearances for both club and country.

✨ NOMINEES: UEFA Men's Player of the Year 2021/22 ✨

Advertisement

🇲🇫 Karim Benzema
🇧🇪 Thibaut Courtois
🇧🇪 Kevin De Bruyne

🗓️ #UEFAawards winners announced at the #UCLdraw, 25 August 2022 🏆 pic.twitter.com/A1F3ndHIbr

— UEFA Champions League (@ChampionsLeague) August 12, 2022

Courtois, on the other hand, was the man of the match in the UCL final after making several stunning saves to deny Liverpool in Paris. He was also exceptional throughout the La Liga season as Madrid lifted their 35th title.

De Bruyne and Manchester City, however, fell short in the semi-final to Madrid despite the Belgian midfield maestro’s spectacular performance in the tournament. He was named the English Premier League (EPL) player of the season after inspiring City to another domestic title, his fourth during his seven seasons at the club.

The top 15 consists of four players each from Madrid and Liverpool with Robert Lewandowski placing fourth with two points above Luka Modric.

The rest of the top 15 players
4 Robert Lewandowski (Bayern, now Barcelona & Poland) – 54 points
5 Luka Modrić (Real Madrid & Croatia) – 52 points
6 Sadio Mané (Liverpool, now Bayern & Senegal) – 51 points
7 Mohamed Salah (Liverpool & Egypt) – 46 points
8 Kylian Mbappé (Paris & France) – 25 points
9 Vinícius Junior (Real Madrid & Brazil) – 21 points
10 Virgil van Dijk (Liverpool & Netherlands) – 19 points
11 Bernardo Silva (Manchester City & Portugal) – 7 points
12 Filip Kostić (Eintracht Frankfurt & Serbia) – 7 points
13 Lorenzo Pellegrini (Roma & Italy) – 5 points
14 Trent Alexander-Arnold (Liverpool & England) – 2 points
15 Fabinho (Liverpool & Brazil) – 1 point

The winner will be announced on August 25, during the UCL group stage draws.