Messi to attend The Best FIFA Football Awards despite snub
Argentina and Barcelona forward Lionel Messi is set to attend The Best FIFA Football Awards, that will be held on Monday in London. This comes as a surprise since the Barcelona number 10 was snubbed from the three short-listed players who will be in contention for the award- Cristiano Ronaldo, Luka Modric, and Mohamed Salah. Read on to find out further details.
Messi was snubbed despite scoring more goals than the nominees
While Ronaldo and Modric won the Champions League in 2017/18, choosing Salah over Messi has raised eyebrows. Notably, Salah didn't win any silverware last year. This is the first time, in 12 years, that Messi has been snubbed from FIFA's top award. Messi has even netted in more goals (45) than Ronaldo (44) and Salah (44), the forwards who have been nominated.
Messi's actions in contrast to Ronaldo
Controversies ensued when Ronaldo did not attend the UEFA Player of The Season award despite being one of the nominees. Reportedly, Ronaldo decided to be absent because he knew that the award was going to Modric. Now that Messi has decided to attend FIFA's ceremony despite not being nominated, comparisons between the attitudes of the two rivals seem unavoidable.
Are domestic wins being looked down upon for individual awards?
Modric won the Champions League as well as took Croatia to the World Cup final, while Ronaldo and Salah were nominated mainly because of their UCL performances. Messi, consistent throughout the season, won La Liga as well as the Copa del Rey with Barcelona. This has led experts to speculate if UCL successes are becoming the ultimate deciding factor for individual awards.
