Alaba voted for Messi instead of Benzema and was insulted. It was a team decision, he defends himself

David Alaba did not have a good night. After the publication of the ‘FIFA The Best’ votes, where he preferred Lionel Messi to teammate Karim Benzema, he was insulted by fans.

The annual FIFA The Best vote was awarded on Monday night. While it doesn’t have the prestige of the Ballon d’Or in the football world and isn’t given much importance, it doesn’t go completely unnoticed either.

Unlike the Ballon d’Or, where the journalists vote, the captains and coaches of the national teams vote here. And one has caused quite a stir. It is customary for players to vote for their friends and teammates.

This was expected for David Alaba, captain of the Austrian national team. He, moreover, saw Karim Benzema win the Champions League and La Liga very closely, Real Madrid made it a season of a lifetime and, according to many, he should have finished first ahead of Messi.

But Alaba unexpectedly sent his first place vote to Messi. He only put Benzema in second place and wrote Mbappe in third.

Logically, this was not met with understanding by Real Madrid fans. Alaba received a lot of insults on social media, some of them racist. The hasthag #Alabaout also took off.

When the Austrian defender, or maybe more likely his team that manages the social networks, saw the hype that Alaba’s vote caused, they had to start putting out the situation.

“Regarding FIFA The Best Award:: The Austrian national team voted for this award as a team, not myself. Everyone on the team board is able to vote and that’s how I made my decision. Everyone knows, especially Karim, how much I admire him and his performances and I have often said that for me he is the best striker in the world, and he still is. Without a doubt,” Alaba wrote on Twitter.

Source: Twitter, David Alaba