Pepe, who voted for FIFA’s best men’s player award this time as Portugal captain, snubbed Lionel Messi out of his top three. Instead, the FC Porto star selected PSG’s Kylian Mbappé as his top choice and opted for his former Real Madrid teammates Luka Modric and Karim Benzema as the next two.
Cristiano Ronaldo was supposed to vote, but the Al Nassr star decided to let his teammate take over the duties. The former Manchester United was the captain at this year’s FIFA World Cup, but he was benched in the knockout games.
Pepe seems to have been nominated as the new captain but there has been no official announcement yet. The FC Porto star took on the duties of voting for the FIFA Best Men’s Player award and it could be the start of his journey as national team captain.
While Pepe snubbed Messi in his vote, Portugal’s new manager Roberto Martinez voted for the Argentine as his best player of the year. He chose Kevin de Bruyne as the second option and Mbappé as the third.
Is Pepe still mad at FIFA’s The Best Men’s Player award winner Lionel Messi?
Pepe criticized foul play when Portugal were knocked out by Morocco at the FIFA World Cup last year. He blamed FIFA for appointing an Argentine referee for his match and claimed it was biased.
He told the Portuguese outlet SIC:
“We conceded a goal that we did not expect but I have to say that this is bigger than me and I am going to have to say it… It is unacceptable that an Argentine referee referee our game. After what happened yesterday, with [Lionel] Messi speaks, all of Argentina speaks and the referee comes here to blow the whistle.”
He went on to claim that Lionel Messi’s Argentina would win the tournament, saying:
“I’m not saying that he comes here conditionally… but what do we play in the second half? The goalkeeper fell to the ground. There were only eight minutes of discount. We worked seriously and the referee eight minutes? We didn’t”. play anything in the second half. The only team that played soccer was us. We are sad. We had the quality to win the World Cup and we didn’t. I can bet that Argentina will be champion.”
Lionel Messi finally won the FIFA World Cup and also took home FIFA The Best Men’s Player award on Monday.