Paris Saint-Germain striker Kylian Mbappe was voted the best player in the French league on Monday for the fifth time in a row, while Portuguese Vitinha is among the perfect eleven players in a vote carried out by the Union of Professional Footballers of Gallia.
Despite a less successful season, the 25-year-old Mbappe, who played his final game at the Parc dos Principes stadium on Sunday, cemented his status among his peers with the award, which has been presented by the union since 1994.
The France international, who will leave his country at the end of this season, beat out teammate Ousmane Dembele as well as Pierre Ly-Melou of sensational Brest, who share third place with Lille.
“This is a chapter of my life that will close. Ligue 1 has always occupied an important place in my life. I tried to honor and be a worthy representative of this championship. I leave with my head held high. I would never do this. I achieved this without Monaco and, of course, PSG, where I interacted with outstanding players,” said the athlete, who is expected to join Real Madrid at the end of this season.
As well as becoming the league’s best player for the fifth time, whose record he extended, Mbappe is set to claim the tournament’s top-scoring player for the sixth time in a row – he currently has 27 goals to his name, eight more than Jonathan David of Lille, where he played seven seasons for PSG after two seasons at Monaco.
“Today I am just a 25-year-old young man and I need to be grateful. In Ligue 1, I always had the impression that they loved me, and this is a pleasant feeling,” he added emotionally in the company of his father.
The UNFP awards also recognized PSG’s Warren Zaire-Emery as the best young player and Italy’s Gianluigi Donnarumma, also from Paris, as the best goalkeeper, while the best coach award went to Eric Roy, who leads amazing Brest.
Portuguese midfielder Vitinha was selected in the tournament’s ideal eleven, one of seven PSG athletes included in the squad, which also includes Donnarumma (PSG), Hakimi (PSG), Yoro (Lille) Marquinhos (PSG), Loko (Saint-Etienne), Zaire-Emery (PSG), Lys-Melo (Brest), Dembele (PSG), Aubameyang (Marseille) and Mbappe ( PSG).
Author: Lusa
Source: CM Jornal
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