Liverpool defender Virgil van Dijk has been crowned UEFA Men's Player of the Year, seeing off competition from Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo for the award.
The player was also named as the UEFA Defender of the Season, while team mate Alisson Becker scooped the Goalkeeper of the Season award.
✨ 2018/19 UEFA Men's Player of the Year ✨
🏆 𝐕𝐀𝐍 𝐃𝐈𝐉𝐊#UEFAawards | #UCLdraw pic.twitter.com/B6PurZkmK7— UEFA Champions League (@ChampionsLeague) August 29, 2019
It caps off what has been a remarkable rise for the Dutch defender, who was still plying his trade at Southampton only 21 months ago.
Van Dijk has established himself as the most dominant defender in world football over the last season and a half, transforming the once shaky Liverpool defence into one of the meanest backlines in European football.
He earned man of the match honours in the Champions League final victory over Spurs, and was widely regarded as the best player in that competition last season. That game was a trademark van Dijk performance in many ways, as Liverpool scored early and dared Spurs to break them down. As had been the case so often last season, they failed to do so.
He was also instrumental in The Netherlands' run to the UEFA Nations League finals, scoring in both games against Germany and dominating at the back in the home win over France.
While they would ultimately fall short in the final against Portugal, that would assuredly have also been a factor in the voting.
This victory will now make van Dijk the strong favourite for the Ballon d'Or, the winner of which will be announced later this year. Michael Owen is the only Liverpool player to win the award, doing so in 2001 (although Kevin Keegan won it in 1978 having left for Hamburg only a few months prior).
Cristiano Ronaldo was the last Premier League player to be awarded the gong, winning it in 2008 while he was at Manchester United.
