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Indian footballing superstar and captain Sunil Chhetri was among the voters for the 2021 Best FIFA Men's Player Award, which Robert Lewandowski deservingly took home for the second year in a row.
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The Bayern Munich and Poland forward equalled Cristiano Ronaldo's record tally of two wins of the prestigious award, after yet another sensational year. Lewandowski scored an astounding 48 goals in 40 appearances across competitions for Bayern Munich last season. The Polish forward is leading the goalscroing charts in Europe this season as well, with 34 goals scored in 27 games played so far.
Lewandowski garnered 48 points in total during the voting, with Paris Saint-Germain and Argentina superstar Lionel Messi finishing second with 44 points. Liverpool and Egypt forward Mohamed Salah completed the top 3 with 39 points.
Notably, Cristiano Ronaldo could only manage a seventh-placed finish after he accrued 23 points in the voting process. However, the Manchester United and Portugal forward was given a special award for his efforts that saw him break the men's goal-scoring record in international football last year.
India's Sunil Chhetri was among the voters by virtue of being a national team captain and he voted for Robert Lewandowski, Lionel Messi and Jorginho in first, second and third place, respectively.
While Chhetri's first two votes accurately reflected the overall standings, Chelsea and Italy midfielder Jorginho could only manage a sixth-placed finish, despite winning the UEFA Champions League and UEFA Euro 2020 with Chelsea and Italy respectively last year.
Karim Benzema, N'Golo Kante, Kylian Mbappe, Kevin De Bruyne and Neymar occupied the remaining spots in the top 10 for The Best FIFA Men's Player Award, with the final standings as follows:
Sunil Chhetri picks Thomas Tuchel as Best FIFA Men's Coach of the Year
Sunil Chhetri picked Chelsea manager Thomas Tuchel as his first choice for the Best FIFA Men's Coach of the Year award, with Pep Guardiola and Hansi Flick occupying second and third place on Chhetri's voting list.
Tuchel was eventually named winner of the 2021 award, beating Guardiola (who won the Premier League with Manchester City) and Italy boss Roberto Mancini (who won UEFA Euro 2020 with Italy) among others, to win the coveted prize.
The German took over at Chelsea in January last year after the club fired Frank Lampard as manager after a string of poor results. The former PSG and Borussia Dortmund coach then led the Blues to a historic Champions League win, beating Guardiola's Manchester City in the final.
