Liverpool's Mohamed Salah (Reuters)
Egypt and Liverpool star Mohamed Salah has been excluded from the race for the 2018/2019 UEFA Player of the Year as Barcelona's Lionel Messi, Juventus's Cristiano Ronaldo and Liverpool's Virgil van Dijk made it to the final three-man shortlist.
"The winner will be named – along with the UEFA Women's Player of the Year and UEFA Champions League positional award winners – during the group stage draw in Monaco on Thursday, 29 August," a statement by UEFA read Thursday.
"The UEFA Europa League Player of the Season will be announced the following day," the statement added.
Egyptian winger Mohamed Salah, who achieved two trophies with Liverpool including the UEFA Champions League and the Super Cup, placed in sixth position with 49 points behind Liverpool teammates Alisson Becker and Sadio Mane.
Messi registered another exceptional season, winning La Liga and Spanish Super Cup titles and was UEFA Champions League top goalscorer and the European Golden Shoe winner.
Ronaldo was UEFA Nations League winner with Portugal and Serie A and Italian Super Cup titles with Juventus.
Van Dijk, who is marshaling the Reds defence, has already won the PFA Player of the Year in addition to a Champions League title.
Top 10:
1- Lionel Messi (Barcelona & Argentina)
2-Cristiano Ronaldo (Juventus & Portugal)
3-Virgil van Dijk (Liverpool & Netherlands)
Rest of top 10
4 Alisson Becker (Liverpool & Brazil) – 57 points
5 Sadio Mané (Liverpool & Senegal) – 51 points
6 Mohamed Salah (Liverpool & Egypt) – 49 points
7 Eden Hazard (Chelsea/Real Madrid & Belgium) – 38 points
8= Matthijs de Ligt (Ajax/Juventus & Netherlands) – 27 points
8= Frenkie de Jong (Ajax/Barcelona & Netherlands) – 27 points
10 Raheem Sterling (Manchester City & England) – 12 points
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