Virgil van Dijk's landslide UEFA award points total - and what it means for Ballon d'Or

Liverpool star Virgil van Dijk was a clear winner of UEFA's Men's Player of the Year award on Thursday, triumphing with almost 100 points more than Lionel Messi. UEFA’s jury for the vote was made up of coaches from all 32 teams in last season’s Champions League and the 48 sides in the Europa League, as well as 55 journalists. As per the UEFA website , when the votes were tallied Van Dijk ended up on a massive 305 points, some 98 ahead of Messi in second on 207. Cristiano Ronaldo was then way back in third on 74. “First of all, I think I need to thank all of my teammates," said Van Dijk when picking up the award. “Without all of them and without the staff, I wouldn't have achieved what I've achieved over the last year especially. I thank my family of course. It's been a long road but that's part of my journey, it's part of who I am. I needed it like this, I'm not a player who was 18 years old and had that rise straight away. I had to work hard for every step of the way – that's part of me and I'm very happy about that. I'm very proud to get this trophy and it's all credit to everyone that's helped me along the way.”

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