Lionel Messi was overlooked in the three men shortlist of UEFA Men’s Player Of The Year award. Cristiano Ronaldo, Luka Modric and Mohamed Salah have been chosen as the front three for this award. Cristiano Ronaldo has helped Real Madrid to win the third consecutive UEFA Champions League and also he has performed well for Portugal in the World Cup. Cristiano Ronaldo has also scored 4 goals for Portugal in the World Cup and almost one handedly helped them to reach the round of 16 stage of the biggest event of football.
On the other hand, the role of Luka Modric was instrumental for Real Madrid in their Champions League campaign in this season. Luka Modric has been pivotal for Real Madrid throughout the whole season. He has also led his National side Croatia to the Final of the World Cup. Luka Modric has won the Golden Ball award in the World Cup. So, he will be a strong contender to win the award of UEFA Men’s Player Of The Year.
Mohamed Salah is surely a noteworthy mention in this list of nominees. It was a great season for the Egyptian International footballer Mohamed Salah. Mohamed Salah has scored 44 goals in all competitions for Liverpool in the previous season. The Egyptian International footballer has helped Liverpool to go to the Final of the UEFA Champions League. Liverpool were also able to finish in the top four positions in the Premier League due to this great performance by Mohamed Salah.
A panel of jury compiled of coaches and players of several clubs have decided to nominate these three players in the award list for this season’s UEFA Men’s Player Of The Year award. The award will be given on 30th August along with the group stage draw of UEFA Champions League and Europa League. Lionel Messi is certainly a notable mention to miss out on this occasion from the list of top three of UEFA Men’s Player Of The Year award.
Here are the two reasons for which he was omitted from the list-
1. Failure To Reach The Semi Final Of UEFA Champions League :
Lionel Messi has failed to guide his team Barcelona to the Semifinal of the Champions League in the previous season. They were beaten by AS Roma in the Quarter Final match of the Champions League in the previous season. Lionel Messi was not able to perform at his level best in the second leg match at the home of AS Roma which was one of the reasons of Barcelona’s downfall in the Champions League in the previous season. This might be a good reason for why Lionel Messi was omitted from the list of top three.
2. Failure For Performing In National Colours :
Lionel Messi has not been able to be influential for Argentina National side in the World Cup. Argentina were out of the World Cup in the round of 16 stage after being beaten by France with a margin of 4-3. The attacker was not able to penetrate the defense of France in that match. So, it was quite expected that he would not make it to the top three in this season.
