Manuel Neuer, Arjen Robben and Cristiano Ronaldo have been named as the final three nominees for the UEFA Best Player in Europe.
The three players came top in a 10 man list thus placing them in pole position to claim the European award which was won in 2013 by Frank Ribery of France and Bayern Munich.
Lionel Messi and Andres Iniesta were two previous winners of the award which commenced in 2011 under the leadership of Michel Platini.
The initial 10-man list includes Angel Di Maria, Diego Costa, Luis Suarez, Lionel Messi, Philipp Lahm, James Rodriguez and Thomas Muller, Manuel Neuer, Arjen Robben and Cristiano Ronaldo.
The trio of Cristiano Ronaldo, Arjen Robben and Manuel Neuer were voted as the best three players and will now be hoping they get their hand on the prize.
Despite claiming the Bundesliga title and the DFB-Pokal with Bayern Munich, Arjen Robben will be considered an outsider for this year’s award.
The Dutch’s strong world cup performance which helped Netherlands to a bronze medal finish will be something Robben will be relying on if he will be considered for the award.
Manuel Neuer claimed the Bundesliga title and the DFB-Pokal with Bayern Munich in 2014. Manuel recently won the World Cup with Germany where his personal performance was encouraged by the golden gloves award.
So much has been said about the sweeping goalkeeper whose style of goalkeeping is different from what used to be.
His recent performances at both club level and international level have made him arguably the best shot stopper in the world.
Definitely top class, the stylish and sophisticated goalkeeper will have to see off competition from club teammate, Arjen Robben and Ballon d’or holder Cristiano Ronaldo to get his hands on this award.
Cristiano Ronaldo is the current Ballon d’Or holder and recently won the UEFA super cup for Real Madrid scoring 2 goals, he will definitely want to add this to his collection of personal accolades.
Cristiano Ronaldo struggled with a knee injury towards the end of last season thus struggling in the latter part of the season with another sub-standard display for his national team at the 2014 FIFA world cup in Brazil.
Even at this, it must be said that Cristiano singlehandedly qualified Portugal for the finals in Brazil.
His four goals against Sweden in the play offs including a second leg away match hat trick were enough to qualify Portugal for Brazil 2014.
At club level, Ronaldo scored 31 league goals to claim the highest goal scorer in Spain and joint top scorer in Europe alongside former Liverpool hit man, Luis Suarez.
He was missing in the finals but was part of the Real Madrid team that claimed the Copa Del Rey title. His 17 record breaking goals did a lot in Real Madrid’s Champions League triumph.
These and many more will make Cristiano Ronaldo an early favourite to claim the award.
The final three nominees in the women category are; Nilla Fischer, Nadine Kessler and Martina Muller
The winner will be announced on August 28 in Monaco during the group-stage draw for the Champions League after voting by a panel of 54 experts.
