Chelsea and Brazil defender Thiago Silva has expressed his fury over the Best FIFA Men’s Player award – specifically the ranking of Manchester City and Argentina striker Julian Alvarez.
Lionel Messi won the prize for the second time after a stunning year where he led Argentina to a first World Cup in 36 years over in Qatar.
The 35-year-old scored seven times as Argentina went all the way and after completing football, accrued 52 points following votes from players, fans and coaches.
Kylian Mbappe came second with 44 points, with Karim Benzema completing the final three on 35.
But a little further down was a placement which has caused a whole lot of controversy. World Cup winner Alvarez, who has scored 10 times for City since signing for a fee of £14 million.
Over on Instagram, Brazilian commentator and content creator @ofuiclear was not happy with where Alvarez finished up, writing: “Voted seventh best in the world, is always on the bench for Man City, is not an absolute starter of his national team and was at River Plate most of the time of the period! Spectacular! Am I CLEAR???”
And Silva, 38, concurred with the points raised and jumped in the comments section to write, “It is a joke.”
Prior to his switch to City, Alvarez had hit 11 goals in 17 league games for River Plate and he then went on to notch four times for Argentina – including twice in the semi-final against Croatia – as they were crowned world champions for a third time.
At City, he has predominantly been a substitute under Pep Guardiola – making just six starts in the Premier League – leading to reports of him being unhappy and wanting to move on after one season.
Coming seventh in the voting, Alvarez finished ahead of huge stars like Neymar (9th), teammate Kevin De Bruyne (10th), Champions League final hero Vinicius Jr (11th), last year’s winner Robert Lewandowski (12th) and Mo Salah (14th).
Croatia manager Zlatko Dalic boycotted the awards over a perceived lack of respect for his country’s players, while 2022 Ballon d’Or Karim Benzema winner has posted a couple of digs after losing out.
