MONACO (AP) - Barcelona's Lionel Messi was chosen the best player of the 2008-09 Champions League on Thursday.
The Argentina forward was voted the UEFA club player of the year by coaches of the 15 other teams who reached the knockout rounds of the tournament.
"It is an enormous joy to be able to receive such an important award as this," Messi said. "And it's also a pleasure to be able to thank all the people who voted for me and who decided I should get this award."
Messi scored nine times in Barcelona's march to the title, including a 70th-minute header in the final to seal a 2-0 win against Manchester United.
At the draw ceremony for this season's competition, Messi was voted best forward and teammate Xavi Hernandez was chosen best midfielder.
Manchester United's Edwin van der Sar was picked as best goalkeeper and John Terry of Chelsea as best defender.
Messi succeeded Cristiano Ronaldo, the world player of the year, in winning the UEFA award, and became the second Argentine winner after Fernando Redondo in Real Madrid's Champions League-winning season of 2000.
http://msn.foxsports.com/soccer/story/9993214/Messi-voted-best-player-of-2009-Champions-League
http://msn.foxsports.com/foxsoccer/video?vid=3493af3c-e256-49c7-80e4-73ee9754ce0b%26tab=FOX Soccer Channel
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment