Barcelona forward Lionel Messi has been named the European Player of the Season in Sports Mole's 2018-19 Reader Awards.
Messi was again in sensational form throughout the campaign as Barcelona retained the La Liga title, scoring 36 goals in 34 league games and 51 in 49 outings across all competitions.
The Spanish giants fell short in both the Copa del Rey and the Champions League, but Messi's individual form was still enough for him to earn 30.4% of the votes as the overall player of the season.
Virgil van Dijk, who helped Liverpool pull off a miraculous comeback over Messi's Barcelona in the semi-finals of the Champions League, came second in the voting with 20.8%.
Manchester City's Raheem Sterling was also in the top three of the voting, while Ajax skipper Matthijs de Ligt was among the frontrunners having led his club to a domestic double and the Champions League semi-finals at the age of just 19.
Juventus's Cristiano Ronaldo garnered just 8% of the votes following his move from Real Madrid last summer, while Bernardo Silva's Manchester City form earned him 7.2%.
Sadio Mane, Kylian Mbappe and Ajax duo Frenkie de Jong and Dusan Tadic also made the final shortlist.
Barney Corkhill
