Having faced some serious criticism as well as racial slurs, a Real Madrid star has now explained why he controversially picked Lionel Messi over teammate Karim Benzema for the FIFA The Best Men's Player award.
After the Argentine was awarded the big prize on Monday night, it was revealed that David Alaba, when representing his nation Austria, had voted for former FC Barcelona talisman Messi in first place over his Los Blancos teammate and captain Benzema.
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This caused a major stir, with the hashtag #AlabaOUT then trending on social media, while his accounts have been filled with racist abuse in the form of monkey emojis, among other things.
The central defender has spent the past 18 months working alongside Benzema at the Santiago Bernabeu after making the move to Real in 2021 following his departure from Bayern Munich.
Alaba has now released a statement on Instagram explaining what led to him choosing Messi over club colleague Benzema.
"Regarding FIFA The Best Award: The Austrian national team vote for this award as a team, not me alone," the 30-year-old wrote.
"Everyone in the team council is able to vote and that's how it's decided.
"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 that is still the case.
"Without doubt."
If Alaba had picked Benzema as his first choice for the award, it would not have affected the overall position as Benzema finished with 34 scoring points, while Messi attained 52.
The Austrian defender was not present at the ceremony in Paris for the FIFA The Best awards, with the club having reported made the decision to stay in Spain to focus on their ElClasico against Barcelona on Thursday.
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