Players of FC Barcelona stole the limelight at the UEFA awards ceremony in Monaco on Thursday. Messi was voted best forward and best club footballer while Xavi lifted the award for best midfielder.
After picking up their awards at the UEFA ceremony in Monaco, Xavi and Messi stressed that the merit belonged to the whole Barça squad.
Barça’s excellent 2008-09 season culminated in the Club’s third Champions league title. Now, UEFA has recognised the individual achievements of two members of the team, Xavi and Messi. On learning of their awards, both players emphasised the important of the whole squad.
Speaking to Barça TV, Xavi Hernández dedicated the award to his team-mates: “I know that this is all a team success. I’m very happy and I dedicate it to them because without their contribution I’m nobody on the pitch”. Lionel Messi spoke in similar terms: “The whole group deserves recognition for our season last year”.
They also stressed that the players must keep their feet on the ground if they want to carry on winning. Messi, who today picked up the first of what will surely be many individual awards in years to come, was determined to play down comments that rate him as the best player in the world: “I just concentrate on doing my job, on improving as a player and on learning. I will never believe that I’m the best in the world and my objective is to work hard to carry on winning”.
Xavi is obviously delighted to have been voted best player in the European Nations Cup, best player in the Rome final and now best midfielder in the competition. However, he stressed: “Everyone likes to receive awards and it’s clear that these come from collective success. Now we’re immersed in a new season and there’s a lot at stake”.
As a product of the Barça youth academy, Xavi is pleased that all five nominees came up through the youth ranks: “It’s another sign that the youth football is very well organised. Barça’s great teams have always had home-grown players and I believe this should never be lost. It’s a privilege and an honour that there are so many home-grown players in the first team”.
Fully focussed on the European Super Cup: although it’s nice to receive awards, Xavi and Messi known that the most important thing is Friday’s final and that there’ no room for mistakes. Xavi told us: “We’ll be 100%: We know that we have to give our all and be humble. We are aware that Shakhtar is a great team against whom we can win or lose but we will never lose our humility”.
For his part Messi said: “Above everything else is Friday’s match. It’ll be very complicated and we can’t repeat the defeat from the past. We have to start well and mentalise ourselves that it’ll be very difficult”.
The winners
Best goalkeeper: Van der Sar (Manchester Utd)
Best defender: John Terry (Chelsea)
Best midfielder: Xavi Hernández (Barça)
Best forward: Lionel Andrés Messi (Barça)
Best club footballer: Lionel Andrés Messi (Barça)
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