It’s been a whirlwind few months for Megan Rapinoe.The 34-year-old was the star of this summer’s Women’s World Cup in France, scoring six goals and winning the tournament’s Best Player award after lifting the trophy.The Reign FC midfielder also found herself at the centre of a spat with none other than US President Donald Trump.Rapinoe said “I’m not going to the f***ing White House” when a reporter asked if she was excited to visit the president’s official residence if the United States won the World Cup.This led to an angry response from Trump, who accused Rapinoe of disrespecting America and told her to “win before she talks”.

Rapinoe ended up having the last laugh, though. Her performances in France were magnificent and the tournament has helped to raise her profile tenfold.

She picked up the Women’s Best Player of the Year award as FIFA’s The Best awards on Monday night and used the podium to express her outrage about various issues including racism and homophobia in football.

"If we really want to have meaningful change, what I think is most inspiring, would be if everybody other than Raheem Sterling and [Kalidou] Koulibaly, if they were as outraged about racism as they were,” she told the audience.

"If everybody else was as outraged about homophobia as LGBTQ players. If everybody was as outraged about equal pay, or the lack thereof, or the lack of investment in the women's game, other than just women. That would be the most inspiring thing to me.”

Well said, Megan.

However, she has also found herself criticised by many people on social media for an interview she gave at the event.

Alongside her US teammate Alex Morgan, Rapinoe said Virgil van Dijk should win the men’s award “just for how cute he is”.

Now, this was surely a joke - right?

Rapinoe is all about gender equality, so it would make zero sense for her to come out and seriously mean that Van Dijk deserves the men’s award because he’s cute.

Nevertheless, her comments have sparked a backlash on social media…

“If Virgil Van Dijk said this about Megan Rapinoe he’d be labeled a misogynist and condescending,” one Twitter user wrote. “Harmful to the growth of the women’s game. Would have to write a badly written public apology on Instagram and would be hence forth known as cancelled.”

Another tweeted: “If Van Dijk said he wanted Alex Morgan to win because she’s fit the feminists would be fuming”

And another said: “You can’t claim to fight for equal rights and then do what you criticize men for doing. If Van Dijk said that about her, we all know what her reaction would’ve been.”

“If VanDijk said something along these lines man would be crucified by twitter, but because it’s Rapinoe people are ok with it,” was tweeted by another fan.