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Soccer

The Best FIFA awards: Live coverage as Messi, Putellas eye top honors

World football’s top players and managers of 2022 are being recognized at The Best FIFA Football Awards show on Monday. Below, theScore is tracking all the winners of the various trophies being handed out in Paris.

Best Men’s Player finalists

As was the case in the World Cup final, club teammates Lionel Messi and Kylian Mbappe face off for the top men’s prize on offer, with reigning Ballon d’Or winner Karim Benzema also in the mix. This FIFA award, inaugurated in 2016 after the governing body’s split with Ballon d’Or organizer France Football, has gone to Messi just once before, in 2019. Can he double his total and get another one over on Mbappe?

  • Karim Benzema (Real Madrid and France)
  • Kylian Mbappe (Paris Saint-Germain and France)
  • Lionel Messi (Paris Saint-Germain and Argentina)

Best Women’s Player finalists

Despite being sidelined since July with a torn ACL that forced her to miss last summer’s European Championship, Spanish superstar Alexia Putellas – the holder of both this award and the Ballon d’Or Feminin – leads the nominees once again. She’s joined by Arsenal forward Beth Mead, who led England to glory at Euro 2022 by claiming both top scorer and best player honors at the tournament, and American superstar and icon Alex Morgan.

  • Beth Mead (Arsenal and England)
  • Alex Morgan (San Diego Wave and United States)
  • Alexia Putellas (Barcelona and Spain)

Best Men’s Coach finalists

After guiding Argentina to the World Cup title, Lionel Scaloni headlines the finalists for the top men’s coach. He’s nominated alongside a pair of coaching titans in Carlo Ancelotti and Pep Guardiola. The Italian bench boss led Real Madrid to a Champions League and La Liga double last season, while Guardiola, now a three-time nominee for this piece of hardware, oversaw Manchester City’s fourth Premier League crown in five seasons.

  • Carlo Ancelotti (Real Madrid)
  • Pep Guardiola (Manchester City)
  • Lionel Scaloni (Argentina)

Best Women’s Coach finalists

Sarina Wiegman, nominated in this category every year since 2017, could make history on Monday. The England manager, who finished third last time around, is looking to become the first person – male or female – to win FIFA’s top coaching prize three times. Sonia Bompastor, who led French giants Lyon to a league and Champions League double last season, and decorated tactician Pia Sundhage, now managing Brazil, are in contention.

  • Sonia Bompastor (Lyon)
  • Pia Sundhage (Brazil)
  • Sarina Wiegman (England)

Best Men’s Goalkeeper finalists

Thibaut Courtois, the 2018 award winner, is joined by first-time nominees Yassine Bounou and Emiliano Martinez. Courtois’ club accomplishments with Real Madrid in 2022 were outstanding, but, considering how heavily the World Cup is always factored in when it comes to individual awards, the Belgian could be in tough to become the first two-time winner of this trophy. Martinez and Bounou, who each helped underpin historic runs for their respective nations in Qatar, will fancy their chances.

  • Yassine Bounou (Sevilla and Morocco)
  • Thibaut Courtois (Real Madrid and Belgium)
  • Emiliano Martinez (Aston Villa and Argentina)

Best Women’s Goalkeeper finalists

The third time was the charm last time around for superlative Chilean shot-stopper Christiane Endler, who finally claimed the 2021 award after finishing second in the voting the previous two years. To retain her crown, the Lyon goalkeeper will need to hold off Mary Earps and Ann-Katrin Berger. Berger, who shone at Euro 2022, helped Germany reach the final of the tournament after being re-diagnosed with thyroid cancer during the competition.

  • Ann-Katrin Berger (Chelsea and Germany)
  • Mary Earps (Manchester United and England)
  • Christiane Endler (Lyon and Chile)

Puskas Award finalists

This illustrious prize is given to the player “judged to have scored the most aesthetically pleasing goal, regardless of the competition in which it took place and the player’s gender or nationality.” Marcin Oleksy of Poland, the first-ever amputee footballer to be on the shortlist for the Puskas Award, scored a sensational scissor kick in November that quickly went viral, and garnered a message of support from compatriot Robert Lewandowski. He’s up against Dimitri Payet, the long-range shooting savant who added another great goal to his collection in April, and Richarlison, who lit up the World Cup in Qatar with a brilliant bicycle kick against Serbia.

Men’s FIFA FIFPro World11

To be announced.

Women’s FIFA FIFPro World11

To be announced.

Soccer

Watch: Benzema caps comeback with Real Madrid's 5th unanswered goal

At some point, Karim Benzema was going to get in on the action.

Real Madrid’s talisman watched as his side came roaring back from an early 2-0 deficit to take a 3-2 lead against Liverpool on Tuesday. From there, he promptly decided to put the match, and perhaps, the last-16 tie, out of reach.

Benzema scored twice in 12 second-half minutes to give the Champions League holders a massive 5-2 lead at Anfield. His second tally of the evening, a composed finish from inside the area after dancing around Alisson, was Madrid’s fifth unanswered goal.

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(Available to view in Canada only)

The Spanish giants will now take their hefty advantage back home for the second leg on March 15.

Soccer

Watch: Nunez stunner, Courtois howler highlight wild start at Anfield

It all started so well for Liverpool in the opening minutes of Tuesday’s Champions League first-leg meeting with Real Madrid.

Darwin Nunez opened the scoring with a sublime goal four minutes into the rematch of last season’s final. The Uruguayan forward diverted Mohamed Salah’s pass into the net with a superb backheel flick.

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(Available to view in Canada only)

It was Salah’s turn next, as the Egyptian superstar capitalized on Thibaut Courtois’ shocking blunder minutes later to double Liverpool’s lead from close range.

(Available to view in U.S. only)

(Available to view in Canada only)

The wild scenes at Anfield continued after that, as Real Madrid scored five unanswered goals – including two each from Vinicius Junior and Karim Benzema – en route to a 5-2 victory.

Soccer

Watch: Brutal Alisson blunder gifts Vinicius easy goal

What. Is. Happening?

Liverpool came out flying in their Champions League last-16 affair against Real Madrid on Tuesday, building a 2-0 lead after just 14 minutes thanks to a sumptuous Darwin Nunez flick for the first goal and a terrible error from Thibaut Courtois on the second.

But Vinicius Junior erased the deficit.

First, the Brazilian fired a wicked strike into the bottom corner to halve the deficit. Then, incredibly, he was gifted a second tally by Liverpool goalkeeper Alisson, who did his opposite number Courtois one better by smacking the ball against Vinicius and watching helplessly as it looped back into his net.

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There’s just something about this fixture and goalkeeper howlers.

Real Madrid added three more unanswered goals after the interval to claim a resounding 5-2 win at Anfield.

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