Munich, July 20 Barcelona talisman Lionel Messi is the best player in the world ahead of Juventus forward Cristiano Ronaldo, according to Bundesliga players, who recently voted for a number of awards related to German and world football.
Messi received 54.8 per cent of the votes in the world's best player category followed by Ronaldo, Robert Lewandowski (Bayern Munich), Virgil Van Dijk (Liverpool) and Kylian Mbappe (Paris Saint Germain).
Former Borussia Dortmund manager Jurgen Klopp was voted as the best manager in the world with 74.8 per cent votes ahead of Pep Guardiola (Manchester City), Hans Flick (Bayern Munich), Julian Nagelsmann (RB Liepzig), Diego Simeone (Atletico Madrid) and Zinedine Zidane (Real Madrid).
Premier League was chosen as the best football league in the world by the footballers in German top-division with a mammoth 74.4 per cent votes ahead of Bundesliga and LaLiga.
The biggest disappointment of the year, according to Bundesliga players, was Mario Gotze, who recently parted ways with Dortmund.
Gotze returned to Dortmund in 2016 after a three-year stint at Bayern Munich, but he failed to establish himself at Signal Iduna Park as the World Cup winner started just five games this season.
Gotze's career seems to be at crossroads after being touted as one the best in the world few years ago. He had the world at his feet after scoring the winner in 2014 World Cup final against Argentina but has failed to live up to the expectations ever since.
( With inputs from IANS )