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Virgil Van Dijk wins UEFA Player of the Year

Aug 30, 2019

Virgil Van Dijk has been named the UEFA Player of the Year. 

The Liverpool star beat Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi to the honour, becoming the first defender to claim the prize. 

Van Dijk says it has not been easy getting this far:

"It's been a long road, but it's part of my journey, it's part of who I am. I needed it like this. I was not a player who rose straight away. I had to work hard every step of the way. And it's all credit to everyone who's helped me along the way."

Van Dijk also won the Champions League's best defender prize, while the midfielder, forward and goalkeeper honours went to Frenkie De Jong, Lionel Messi and Alisson Becker respectively.

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Champions League group stage draw highlights

The draw for the group stage of the Champions League has been completed. 

Holders Liverpool have been drawn in the same group as Napoli.
Chelsea are together with Ajax and Valencia.
Tottenham are in the same group as Bayern Munich.
Manchester City have Shakhtar Donetsk and Dinamo Zagreb for company.
Barcelona are in the Group of Death with Borussia Dortmund and Inter Milan.

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15-year-old American tennis star Coco Gauff has advanced to the third round of the US Open, after beating her Hungarian opponent in three sets.

Gauff becomes the youngest to reach the last-32 of the tournament, since Russian Anna Kournikova made the last-16 in 1996.

She joins defending champion Naomi Osaka, Johanna Konta and Caroline Wozniacki among the big names through to Round 3.

Over in the men's draw, Rafael Nadal has progressed with a walkover, after his Australian opponent pulled out with a shoulder injury.

Nick Kyrgios, Alexander Zverev and Denis Shapovalov are also through.

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