David Alaba was subjected to online abuse after he voted for Lionel Messi and not Real Madrid teammate Karim Benzema at the FIFA Best Awards. The Austrian captain voted for his Argentine counterpart as first.

Alaba’s second choice was Benzema and Mbappe was third. ‘The Best’ is given for the natural year and not the tournament year, which means that it runs from January to December. Fans get a vote share, coaches of the national teams, captains and journalists have a share too. Each of the four get 25% weightage in the selection.

Benzema won the Ballon d’Or last year. However, after Argentina’s successful FIFA World Cup campaign and PSG winning the Ligue 1 title – it was Messi who was the favorite on Monday.

After votes were revealed, Real Madrid fans were upset that their defender David Alaba, who captains Austria, did not vote for his teammate Benzema and chose Messi instead. The hashtag #AlabaOut was trending on social media.

The Austrian responded to the abuse in a tweet. He said that the national team, including his coach, voted dor one player – Lionel Messi.

“Regarding FIFA The Best Award:
The Austrian national team vote for this award as a team, not me alone. 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,” Alaba said on Twitter.

Messi was the runaway winner with 52 points. Mbappe finished second on 44 points and Benzema was third with 32 points having missed the World Cup through injury.

“Wow it’s amazing. With (Karim) Benzema who isn’t here and Kylian (Mbappe), it’s been a tremendous year,” said Messi. “It’s an honour for me to be here tonight and to win this award.

“Obviously I’d like to express thanks to my team mates, (Lionel) Scaloni — without them, I wouldn’t be here. I’d like to pay tribute to all of my team mates and the team as a whole, we did such a great job.”