Virgil van Dijk beats Messi, Ronaldo to win 'Player of the Year' award

Nyon: Liverpool defender Virgil van Dijk won the Men's Player of the Year award for the 2018/19 UEFA Champions League campaign on Thursday.

Van Dijk competed against Juventus' Cristiano Ronaldo and Barcelona's Lionel Messi for the honour. He had 305 points under his belt while Messi had 207 points. Ronaldo had to settle on the third spot with just 74 points.

Apart from this, the 29-year-old also won the Defender of the Season award.

In May, Van Dijk was named Premier League Player of the Season. By doing so, he became the first defender to win the Player of the Season award in seven seasons, after Manchester City's Vincent Kompany in 2011-12.

Earlier in the year, Van Dijk had won PFA Players' Player of the Season, Liverpool Players' and Fans' Player of the Season.

However, Messi managed to bag the Forward of the Season award.

Messi had 285 points and interestingly, the second-placed Sadio Mane had only 109 points.

The Argentine was the UEFA Champions League top scorer and also the Liga top scorer and assist provider.

Van Dijk's teammate Alisson Becker bagged the Goalkeeper of the Season award.