Martin Skrtel has won the race to be named as Slovakia’s “Fans’ Player of the Year”.
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It caps a wonderful 18 months for the 30 year old defender, who just missed out on the Premier League title last May.
“It was one of the best years for me, maybe even the best in my career so I am really happy.” he told the Liverpool Echo. “I played regularly and even scored some goals. I had a great year in Liverpool and also with Slovakia as well.”
Aside from his excellent season at Liverpool, Skrtel is captain of the Slovakian national side. They have won five consecutive games in the European Qualifiers and now top Group C ahead of both Spain and Ukraine. They’ve not played in a European Championships finals since the country’s independence from Czechoslovakia in 1993.
He just missed out to Napoli’s Marek Hamsik in the battle to be named as overall player of the year, but insists he is not bitter about the result, saying “The fact that I finished second is not important to me. Marek is a great player and he deserves this award.”.
The Liverpool star and Hamsik have won the top award four times each in the last eight seasons, with Skrtel lasting winning in 2012.