Chelsea star Thiago Silva labels Fifa Best voting ‘a joke’ as he fumes at bit-part Man City ace beating Lewandowski

THIAGO SILVA has blasted Fifa’s best-player voting as a “joke” after Julian Alvarez came seventh – ahead of Kevin De Bruyne and Robert Lewandowski.

Summer arrival Alvarez has struggled for a regular spot at Manchester City but bagged four goals in helping Argentina win the World Cup.

Lionel Messi topped the poll of FIFPro players, selectors, journalists and fans with 52 votes.

And the next four on the list were also no great surprise.

French hitmen Kylian Mbappe and Karim Benzema notched 44 and 34 votes respectively.

Then came Croatia’s evergreen midfielder Luka Modric and Etihad goal machine Erling Haaland.

But controversy hit once the list got down to players with fewer than 20 votes.

Sadio Mane was sixth, ahead of Alvarez and Moroccan stylist Achraf Hakimi.

The next four places were taken by Neymar, De Bruyne, Vinicius Junior and Lewandowski.

And Chelsea’s Brazil defender Silva, 38, broke ranks when he saw that ranking.

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Responding to protests over Alvarez’s bit-part role, Silva wrote: “It’s a joke”.

But the City man’s Argentina team-mate Messi has defended him, saying: “During the whole World Cup, he was extraordinary.

“He ran everything. He fought for everything – creating chances, fighting. For us, he was the surprising discovery, and he deserves everything that has happened to him because he is a lovely guy.”

But to make the Fifa ratings even more embarrassing, Fifa initially listed alvarez under “Spain”.

In fact, no Spanish players made the top 14, while England’s only representative was Jude Bellingham.