FIFA’s The Best awards final three, Messi out

Lionel Messi has been excluded from the podium of the top prize at FIFA’s The Best awards after the final shortlists were leaked.

The Best Men’s Player will not be won by the Barcelona player this year, despite a magnificent season for the Blaugrana. Failure to land the Champions League or advance to the latter stages of the World Cup with Argentina has proved decisive, meaning he misses out on the final three for the first time since 2006.

Instead, the award will be won by one of the following: Cristiano Ronaldo, Luka Modric and Mohamed Salah.

The Croatian has already won best player at last week’s Champions League awards, which infuriated Ronaldo enough that the Juventus star failed to turn up to the awards.

Messi was part of the initial top 10 nominees, with Kevin De Bruyne, Raphael Varane, Antoine Greizmann, Eden Hazard, Harry Kane and Kylian Mbappe all set to join him in failing to make the cut.

Peter Schmeichel has tipped Luka Modric to win the award at the unveiling of the nominations in London.

“I think we have a new winner this year,’ said the Manchester United great. “I think his performances were fantastic. Rightly so he got best player at the World Cup and I fully expect him to win this.”

Final shortlists

The Best FIFA Men’s Player

Cristiano Ronaldo – Juventus

Mohamed Salah – Liverpool

Luka Modric – Real Madrid

The Best FIFA Men’s Goalkeeper

Thibaut Courtois – Real Madrid

Hugo Lloris – Tottenham

Kasper Schmeichel – Leicester City