Monica Iheakam
Liverpool,Tottenham will know their fate today as the Champions League group stage draw takes place at the Grimaldi Forum in Monaco, France.
But it is not just about the Champions League tonight, also in Monaco, UEFA will announce winners in several awards.
Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo and Virgil van Dijk have been nominated for the 2018/19 UEFA Men’s Player of the Year award.
Messt, top goalscorer in the UEFA Champions League and the European Golden Shoe winner picked up his tenth Liga title with Barcelona.
Juventus talisman,Ronaldo is the UEFA Nations Legaue winner and top goalscorer at the finals.
Since the inception of the Uefa Men’s Player of the Year award in 2011, Ronaldo has won it three times (2014, 2016, 2017), while Messi has won it twice (2011 and 2015).
Last year, Luka Modric ended Ronaldo and Messi’s dominance of the award – and Van Dijk will be hopeful of leaving the duo empty-handed again after a stellar season with the Reds.
Liverpool will of course be looking to defend their crown while Tottenham will be keen to go one better after losing the final in Madrid.
Chelsea will want to mark their return to the competition with success, while Man City are yet to conquer Europe.
Meanwhile, supporters of Liverpool, Chelsea, Arsenal and Tottenham have written to UEFA calling for improvements to the fan experience for European finals.
The four Premier League clubs contested last season’s showpiece events, with Chelsea thrashing Arsenal in the Europa League final and Liverpool beating Tottenham in the Champions League.
The fan groups have called on UEFA to tackle issues such as inadequate ticket allocations and inconvenient travel arrangements.
The supporters want UEFA to ensure 80 per cent of tickets to finals are made available to fans of the competing clubs, after less than half were allocated to Liverpool and Spurs fans for last season’s Champions League final in Madrid.
They have also asked European football’s governing body to choose stadiums with a minimum capacity of 60,000 for Europa League finals and 75,000 for Champions League finals, to help keep tickets affordable.
