A breakdown of how each country and continent voted on 'The Best' award The Best 2019 Messi beat Van Dijk by eight points

Leo Messi picked up The Best FIFA Men's Player award in Milan on Monday night, surpassing Virgil van Dijk by eight votes and Cristiano Ronaldo by ten.

The Dutch defender was the initial favourite but the Barcelona superstar ended up with the most acclaim from his peers.

Just off podium were Liverpool forwards Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mane who occupied the fourth and fifth positions respectively.

Further down in terms of votes were Kylian Mbappe, Frenkie de Jong, Eden Hazard, Matthijs de Ligt and Harry Kane.