UEFA Champions League Awards 2018/19: Virgil van Dijk, Lionel Messi & Cristiano Ronaldo Nominated

​UEFA have announced the shortlist of players nominated for positional awards for their performances during the 2018/19 Champions League campaign.

Among the contenders for the four different categories are victorious Liverpool quintet Alisson, Virgil van Dijk, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Jordan Henderson and Sadio Mane. Juventus superstar Cristiano Ronaldo is also included, while his adversary Lionel Messi is also nominated.

Virgil Van Dijk,Lionel Messi

​UEFA revealed that the Merseysiders' opponents in the final, ​Tottenham Hotspur, have two representatives, with Christian Eriksen hoping to the win the Midfielder of the Season gong and Hugo Lloris making the cut for the goalkeeper award.

Spurs produced a historic comeback in the semi finals to overturn Ajax's three-goal lead, though the Dutch outfit can take a bit of solace in the fact that a couple of their thrilling youngsters have been nominated.

Midfielder Frenkie de Jong and colossal centre-back Matthijs de Ligt have both been selected for their respective categories. The pair were churning out such remarkable displays last term that each has earned a lucrative move to one of Europe's elite sides.

The latter will link up with Ronaldo at ​Juve following a £62m switch in July, whilst his counterpart has elected to join Messi at ​Barcelona, completing his transfer to Catalonia for £75m.

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De Jong and Messi are not the only Blaugrana men on the shortlist, however, with German shot-stopper Marc-Andre ter Stegen completing the lineup.

​Liverpool's domination of the nominations is unsurprising given their spectacular march to ​Champions League glory in June, the Reds downing Tottenham 2-0 in the showpiece event in Madrid to lift their sixth European Cup.


Source : 90min