Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi have been ruling the roost in football close to a decade now and are again in the running for the FIFA awards. Antoine Griezmann is their closest rival to challenge them for the top honours but it is a well-known fact that he will fall short in front of the two legends of the game.
Former Spain and Real Madrid manager Vicente Del Bosque reflected on the same fact as he gave his views on the contenders for the FIFA best player of the year award and also gave his views on the best manager award.
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The duo of Ronaldo and Messi have won all possible individual accolades in their illustrious career as the battle between the duo is expected to go on for at least a few more years with no signs of ageing shown by the two stalwarts of the game. They will resume their rivalry on the field this weekend in the first El Clasico of this season.
Vicente Del Bosque gave his views on who should be in the running for the top player award as he said, "Messi and Ronaldo have dominated the award in recent times. I imagine that people will decide between the two based on allegiances to the shirts that they wear. In my book, they have been the best." The former Spain national coach was talking to FIFA.com where he gave his opinions on a host of issues.
FIFA released a list of 23 players who are in the running for the award. The list featured just two Spanish players and Del Bosque feels that the list could have had a few more La Roja players. He said, "Sergio Busquets and Gerard Pique could have made the list. They are players who have also left their mark on a great period of Spanish football."
With many top notch managers in the race for the Manager of the Year prize, Del Bosque wants Atletico Madrid manager Diego Simeone to win the coveted award: "I favour Simeone. He's given Atletico Madrid an identity, making it his team, and they've competed really well. But that's no slight on the rest of the nominees, I'd like to place on record that I hold them all in high regard."
With Luis Enrique and Zinedine Zidane going to face off against one other in the highly anticipated El Clasico on Saturday, Del Bosque revealed that he never envisaged the duo to become managers of their respective sides.
Enrique and Zidane had played under Del Bosque in his two different spells as Real Madrid boss. Des Bosque revealed, "It's not what I envisaged happening. But it turns out that they're both proving to be great coaches.What I can say is that they have different demeanours when you see them on TV, but they're both doing a great job."
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