Ronaldo is the record winner of the award
While it might seem like everything concerning last season has been done and dusted with all the major competitions having been decided, it is germane to note that one aspect which has not been settled is the handing out of individual awards based on perfomances in the period under review.
Numerous prestigious personal awards are still to be decided, with the Ballon d'Or, FIFA Best and UEFA Best Men's Player accolades all coming up for grabs in the next couple of months.
While it might be in the shadow of more illustrious awards like the Ballon d'Or and FIFA Best, the UEFA awards are prestigious accolades in their own right and are highly rated by players and fans alike.
The awards were introduced in 2011 to initially replace the Ballon d'Or (which was merged with the FIFA World Best in 2010), and has Real Madrid midfielder Luka Modric as its current holder.
Crstiano Ronaldo is the record winner of the accolade, while Lionel Messi, Andres Iniesta and Frank Ribery have also triumphed.
Ostensibly given to the player adjudged to have outperformed every other player in Europe in the preceding season, the UEFA awards are presented during the draws of the following season's Champions League and serves as the curtain raiser for continental football.
According to UEFA, the award "recognize[s] the best player, irrespective of his nationality, playing for a football club within the territory of a UEFA member association during the previous season." Players are judged by their performances in all competitions, domestic and international, and at club and national team levels throughout the season.
The winner is decided by the votes of 55 journalists representing each of UEFA's 55 member nations, while 80 coaches from the pool of clubs that participated in the Champions League and Europa League in the preceding season also vote.
As expected, this year's award would be an intense battle between superstar players who played key roles for their clubs and nations last season and in this piece, we shall be highlighting the five top contenders to be named the 2019 UEFA Men's Best Player
#5 Matthijs de Ligt - Defender (Juventus)
De Ligt captained Ajax to the Eredivisie
Mattijs de Ligt made history on September 21, 2016 when he scored on his debut for Ajax aged 17 years and 40 days, becoming the second youngest goalscorer in the club's illustrious history. Few months later, he created further history as the youngest to ever start a major European final when he started the 2017 Europa League final against Manchester United.
Even at a young age, his leadership qualities were not in doubt and this led to him becoming the youngest captain in Ajax's history and it was in this capacity that he skippered the side to the domestic double as well as the semifinal of the Champions League.
De Ligt starred with 55 appearances in all competitions for Ajax in 2018/2019, scoring the crucial winning goal in the quarterfinal against Juventus in the Champions League.
Despite being just 19, the Ajax trained center-back is already an established international and played a starring role as Netherlands made it all the way to the final of the maiden edition of the Nations League.
His performances saw him become the first defender to win the Golden Boy award and linked him with top European sides before eventually signing for Juventus in a €75m deal.
#4 Lionel Messi - Forward (Barcelona)
Messi's Champions League campaign in disappointment
Heading into the last few weeks of last season, Lionel Messi was the overwhelming favorite for all the individual awards, as he was the driving force behind Barcelona's quest for a third treble.
The 32-year-old had started the season in imperious form, scoring and assisting goals at will, but Barcelona's disappointing end to the season saw him lose his previously firm grip on the award.
This is not in anyway to suggest that the Argentine maestro had a poor campaign on an individual level; far from it, as with 36 league goals, he retained the European Golden Shoe for his sixth win overall while his 10 goals in the Champions League were also more than anyone else managed.
However, the fact that he was unable to inspire Barcelona to glory on the continent as promised at the start of the season rubbed some of the sheen off his individual accomplishments.
His disappointing displays and subsequent shenanigans at the 2019 Copa America further dampened his chances and Lionel Messi's 2018/2019 season can be summarized as one that promised so much but delivered so little (at least on collective terms).
#3 Cristiano Ronaldo - Forward (Juventus)
Ronaldo lifted the UEFA Nations League with Portugal
With three UEFA Best Men's Player awards, Cristiano Ronaldo is the highest recipient of the accolade, while he is also the only player in history to have finished in the top three of each award since they were introduced in 2011.
Even though the 2018/2019 season can be classified as somewhat of a failure for the Portuguese icon as he did not inspire Juventus to the Champions League as expected, it was not for want of trying by the 34-year-old.
He was the inspiration behind the Bianconerri going as far as they did; being the only player to score in the knockout rounds of the competition including the memorable hat-trick against Atletico Madrid in the round-of-16 to complete an improbable comeback.
He rose from his continental disappointment at club level to help his nation to the first ever Nations League trophy, scoring a hat-trick in the semifinal victory over Switzerland to fire his country to the final in front of their own fans.
Ronaldo's superhuman performances over the years mean that he is a perennial contender for individual honors and his displays last season firmly puts him in the running to extend his record breaking UEFA Best Player wins.
#2 Alisson Becker - Goalkeeper (Liverpool)
Alisson won his third Golden Glove of the year at the 2019 Copa America
Alisson made his breakthrough between the sticks at Roma, earning widespread praise for his reflexes and ability with the ball at his feet, and this led him to be christened the 'Messi of goalkeepers'.
His form took him to Liverpool, with The Reds signing him for a then world record fee of £66.8m and it is safe to say that this was money well spent, as the Brazilian international has brought a solution to what was a long running problem at Anfield.
With Liverpool, Alisson starred, playing all 38 matches as the Merseysiders took Manchester City all the way in what was one of the closest Premier League title races in history.
During the course of the campaign, Alisson embarked on an undefeated streak of 20 Premier League matches consecutively breaking the previous record for a Liverpool player held by Javier Mascherano.
In total, he kept 21 clean sheets to win the Golden Glove, also repeating the feat in the Champions League, with his match winning saves throughout the competition; particularly against Napoli in the group stage and Tottenham in the final proving extremely important to Liverpool winning their sixth European crown.
On the international scene, the 26-year-old was also instrumental to Brazil claiming the Copa America on home soil and he won the competition's Golden Glove to boot, conceding just one goal from six matches to make it a trio of awards for him in 2018/2019.
Being a goalkeeper is a very thankless task and very rarely are goalkeepers considered for individual awards (only one shotstopper has ever won the Ballon d'Or in its 62-year history), but even the most casual of observers cannot deny the brilliant campaign Alisson had in 2018/2019 and as such, he is more than a worthy winner of the 2019 UEFA Men's Player of the Year.
#1 Virgil Van Dijk - Defender (Liverpool)
Van Dijk is the current PFA Player of the Year
In the first three years of Jurgen Klopp's Liverpool tenure as manager, The Reds were very much a classic case of a loose cannon. You never knew what to expect, for they were as capable of exhilarating play in attack as they were of capitulating mistakes in defense in almost equal measure.
This meant that for all of their attacking brilliance, success was always going to be a distant dream as the requite resoluteness as the back to remain at the top was sorely lacking.
It was for this reason that Jurgen Klopp went all out to sign Virgil Van Dijk, eventually getting his man for a record breaking sum of £75m.
The Dutch international's impact was immediate, as under his guidance and leadership, Liverpool saw their defense transformed from shambolic into an impenetrable fortress.
Van Dijk's reading of the game is immaculate, while his positioning and organizational abilities are second to none and despite coming up against all the big guns in the game last season, he was famously never dribbled past.
The 28-year-old was instrumental to Liverpool's Champions League triumph as well as his country's second placed finish at the Nations League and it is for his imperious displays at the heart of defense for club and country that in 2018/2019 that Van Dijk has been installed as the favorite for most of the individual awards, while he was also named the 2019 PFA Player of the Year
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