Champions League positional awards nominees: no Messi, Ronaldo
UEFA has announced the final nominees for the 2020-21 Champions League positional awards, with Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo not among the three forwards.
Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo have not been included in the final nominees for the 2020-21 UEFA Champions League positional awards.
Nominees chosen by jury of coaches and journalists
On Friday, UEFA announced the 12 players, three per position, who could win the individual prizes on 26 August.
The 12 players each received the most points in each positional category following a jury vote. The jury comprised coaches from the 32 clubs that entered into the group stage last season, as well as 55 journalists representing UEFA's 55 member associations. Coaches could not vote for players from their own teams.
Ronaldo fails to make top 10 forwards in 2020/21 Champions League
Messi came fourth in the poll for the best forwards, while Ronaldo did not make the top 10. Each player was eliminated at the last-16 stage, Barcelona losing to Paris Saint-Germain and Juventus to Porto.
Winners Chelsea dominate award finalists
Five of the 12 nominees are from Chelsea, who won their second Champions League by beating Manchester City in the final. Édouard Mendy, César Azpilicueta, Antonio Rüdiger, N'Golo Kanté and Jorginho are all nominated.
City have three representatives – Ederson, Rúben Dias and Kevin De Bruyne – while beaten semi-finalists Real Madrid and PSG provide one each: Thibaut Courtois, and Kylian Mbappé.
Bayern Munich striker Robert Lewandowski and Borussia Dortmund's Erling Haaland, who finished as top scorer last season with 10, are the other nominees.
The winners of the best goalkeeper, defender, midfielder and forward prizes will be announced at the group-stage draw in Istanbul in two weeks' time.