Raheem Sterling has sent a message of congratulations to Virgil Van Dijk after the Liverpool defender was named UEFA Men's Player of the Year.
The big Dutchman received the award ahead of superstars Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo at Thursday's Champions League draw in Monaco.
Van Dijk and Sterling were widely recognised as the two best players in the Premier League last season and shared the main domestic awards between them, with the Liverpool man winning the PFA Player of the Year award and Sterling take the Football Writers' gong.
Former Liverpool forward Sterling, who scored 23 goals in 129 games for the Reds before joining City in 2015 for £50m, replied to the official UEFA Champions League Twitter account's announcement of Van Dijk's award by saying "Congrats" followed by applause and shaking hands emojis.
Sterling's Manchester City remain favourites at 7/2 to win the Champions League despite having only ever reached the semi-finals of the competition once in their history and will face Shakhtar Donetsk, Dinamo Zagreb and Atalanta in Group C.
Liverpool, third favourites at 13/2 behind the side they beat in last season's semi finals Barcelona (5/1), were drawn to face Napoli, Red Bull Salzburg and KRC Genk.
The first meeting of the season between Liverpool and City is at Anfield on the weekend of 9/10 November, just after the Reds have faced Genk at home on Tuesday 5 November (8pm KO) and City travel to Atalanta (Wednesday 6 November, 8pm ko).
