Paris Saint-Germain forwards Kylian Mbappe and Lionel Messi each have been nominated for this season’s UNFP’s Ligue 1 Player of the Year award, the players’ union announced on Tuesday.
The two PSG stars are among five Ligue 1 players who are up for the annual honor.
Messi and Mbappe each have bolstered their resume for the honor throughout the ongoing Ligue 1 campaign.
Messi has recorded 30 goal contributions to go along with a Ligue 1-leading 15 assists this season. The Argentine forward took home the UNFP Player of the Month award for September.
Paris St Germain’s Kylian Mbappe celebrates scoring their third goal with Lionel Messi REUTERS/Eric Gaillard
On the other hand, Mbappe has also chipped in with 30 goal contributions for the current Ligue 1 leaders, and he leads the league in goals with 26. He won the UNFP Player of the Month honors for November/December and February.
Mbappe is a three-time winner of the UNFP Player of the Year honor.
This season’s UNFP Player of the Year award will be handed out at the annual UNFP Awards ceremony on May 28. Two other PSG players are also up for prestigious honors, as Nuno Mendes was nominated for the UNFP Young Player of the Year award, while Gianluigi Donnarumma will have an opportunity to win back-to-back UNFP Goalkeeper of the Year awards.
THIERRY HENRY ON PSG FANS BOOING LIONEL MESSI
For France legend Thierry Henry, speaking as a pundit on Amazon Prime Video, the issue lies in the divide between the supporters and the club, rather than any one individual player in the team:
“Nobody is above the rules. I’ve you’ve missed a training session – and it can happen to anyone – fair enough, you’re punished, there’s no issue there. But the real fracture is between the supporters and the Qatari era. Sometimes Messi’s been the target, sometimes it’s Neymar, it’s been Mbappé who was booed too.
For me, Messi is not the problem. I’ve played with him, and he’s never been a problem, he was always a solution. You saw he was a solution for Argentina as well. He hasn’t exactly aged in the space of two months. But what I’ve always said is: What are the rules? Nobody’s speaking up, we’re not being told about what happened.”
