Costa Rican goalkeeper Keylor Navas received this Thursday one of the biggest recognitions of his career, the award as the Goalkeeper of the UEFA Champions League Season 2017-2018.

Navas, goalkeeper for Real Madrid, received the award in Monaco, during the gala ceremony that includes the Champions League group stage draw; the Costa Rican went up against Brazilian Alisson Becker goalie for la Roma and Italian Gianluigi Buffon goalkeeper for the Juventus in the past season and winner of the 2016-2017 season.

The Costa Rican received the deserved award after becoming the first goalkeeper in history to lift 3 consecutive Champions League trophies.

In this same event Luka Modric (Real Madrid), Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid) and Mohamed Salah (Liverpool) disputed the UEFA Men’s Player of the Year award, which finally went to Luka Modric; while Sergio Ramos won once again the Champions League Defender of the Season Award 2017-2018; Luka Modric also took the Midfielder of the Season Award and Cristiano Ronaldo was awarded as the best forward of the season. The UEFA’s Women’s PLayer of the Year is Pernille Harder.

These awards recognized the best players, irrespective of nationality, playing for a club within the territory of a UEFA member association during the past season. Players nominated for each of the positions are judged on their performances in the UEFA Champions League, while Players of the Year are judged on their performances in all competitions -domestic, continental, and international.

“The finalists in each category are selected by a jury comprising the 80 coaches of the clubs that participated in the group stages of the 2017/18 UEFA Champions League (32) and UEFA Europa League (48), along with 55 journalists selected by the European Sports Media (ESM) group, representing each of UEFA’s member associations. Jury members chose their top three players, with the first receiving five points, the second three and the third one. Coaches were not allowed to vote for players from their own team”, explains the UEFA website.

“I feel very proud of being Costa Rican, and I always do my best to heighten my country’s name and Real Madrid’s name”, stated Navas.