NYON: Veteran Italian goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon has been named as one of three nominees for the UEFA Men’s Player of the Year Award alongside Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, European football’s governing body announced on Tuesday.

The 39-year-old Buffon led Juventus to a sixth successive Serie A title, a third-straight Italian Cup success and was a key member of the side that reached last season’s Champions League final. But he missed out on a first winner’s medal as the Italians were beaten 4-1 by Ronaldo’s Real Madrid in Cardiff.

Ronaldo helped Real to a second consecutive Champions League title and finished as the tournament’s top scorer with 12 goals.

Messi claimed the Spanish Copa del Rey Cup with Barcelona and finished as La Liga’s top scorer with 37 goals last season.

The three-player shortlist was selected by a panel of 80 coaches of the clubs which participated in the group stage of the 2016/17 Champions League and Europa League and 55 journalists selected by the European Sports Media (ESM) group, representing each of UEFA’s member associations.

Five-time Ballon d’Or winner Lionel Messi has won the award twice, as has Portuguese forward Ronaldo.

Since its inception in 2011, unlike other similar individual awards, the UEFA accolade has not been totally dominated by Ronaldo and Messi.

Spain midfielder Andres Iniesta won the honour in 2012, followed by French winger Franck Ribery a year later.

Real Madrid, who have lifted the European Cup in three of the past four seasons, had four players in the top 10, with Luka Modric fourth, Toni Kroos fifth and Sergio Ramos seventh.

Argentinian forward Paulo Dybala (sixth) joined his Juve team-mate Buffon in being named, while Monaco’s rising teenage star Kylian Mbappe, Bayern Munich striker Robert Lewandowski and former Manchester United forward Zlatan Ibrahimovic rounded out the top 10.

Luis Suarez, who scored 37 goals for Barcelona in all competitions last season, missed out, as did his former team-mate Neymar, who has since joined Paris St Germain in a world-record 222-million-euro ($260.9m) move.

VfL Wolfsburg striker Pernille Harder, Olympique Lyon midfielder Dzsenifer Marozsan and Barcelona winger Lieke Martens were shortlisted for the UEFA’s Women’s Player of the Year award.

Martens was named the Women’s Euro 2017 player of the tournament earlier this month after helping Netherlands to their first senior female continental title.

The awards will be presented at this season’s Champions League group stage draw in Monaco on August 24.

Published in Dawn, August 16th, 2017