Italy CT Roberto Mancini and captain Leonardo Bonucci picked Leo Messi as the best player of 2022 at the FIFA The Best Awards but had different views on the second and third best player of the year.
FIFA has revealed the votes of journalists, national teams captains and coaches, which resulted in Messi’s victory of ‘The Best Award’ organised yearly by the Football Governing Body.
Mancini and Bonucci were entitled to represent the Azzurri in the panel and both chose Messi as the best player of last year.
The Azzurri faced Messi’s Argentina in the Finalissima in Wembley in June 2022, which ended in a 3-0 win for the South Americans. Before the match, Azzurri legend Gianluca Vialli gifted the former Barcelona superstar an Italy shirt.
The Juventus defender named Karim Benzema and Luka Modric as No.2 and 3, respectively, while Mancio went for Kylian Mbappé and Neymar.
During one of his latest interviews, Bonucci admitted his admiration for Modric and the “sensational poetry he transmits by playing football.”
No Serie A player was included in the FIFA Best World XI for 2022.