Karim Benzema, Kevin de Bruyne Makes Nominees For Uefa Player of the Year Award

 

Real Madrid forward Karim Benzema has been shortlisted for this year's UEFA Player of the Year award alongside Manchester City player Kevin de Bruyne. 

The 15-man list was released on Thursday and regular names like Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo were completely missing while players like Paris Saint-Germain forward Kylian Mbappe, Liverpool's Mohamed Salah, and Bayern Munich's Sadio Mane made it to the list. 

Real might be perceived as the club with favourable contenders to win the prize considering the fact that Benzema was voted Champions League player of season for leading Real Madrid to lift the trophy last season while Thibaut Courtois was voted player of the match of the final game. 

Kevin is another candidate that can also be polling to win the prize as he won the Premier League with Manchester City and was also voted Premier player of the season. 

Amongst club coaches that made it to this year's list are Liverpool's Jurgen Klopp, and Real Madrid manager Carlos Ancelotti.