Here’s why Lionel Messi didn’t make the top 3 shortlist for 2018 FIFA best player award
The final 3-man shortlist for the FIFA 2018 best player award for men was released yesterday and to the utmost surprise of football fans and commentators around the world, Argentine and Barcelona FC forward Lionel Messi was not included in the list that had last year’s winner Cristiano Ronaldo, Croatia captain Luka Modric and Egyptian striker Mohammed Salah.
The shortlist complied was listed according to the points gathered from statistics of each player’s performances in a match.
The last season performance of Luka Modric was outstanding. The Croatian captain assisted his country in reaching the finals of the 2018 FIFA world cup, and he also won the golden ball award for the best player of the tournament ahead of the likes of Antoine Griezmann, Paul Pogba and Kylian Mbappe, who performed very well for France in winning the World cup.
Apart from the FIFA Golden Ball award, the 32-year-old won the champions league trophy with Real Madrid and also won the UEFA best player for the 2017/2018 tournament.
Mohammed Salah who is among the top three finalist for the FIFA best player award performed very well for Liverpool and Egypt, Salah who was voted for the best player for 2017/2018 English Premiership League (EPL), and also breaking the 30 goals barrier in the league, scoring 32 goals, that made him to win the EPL Golden Boot, he also won the EPL monthly player award three times in the 2017/2018 season making him the first player to win the award three times in a season. Salah also helped Liverpool in reaching the champions finals since 2005/2006.
The 26-year-old Egyptian playmaker also scored the two goals that made Egypt qualify for the 2018 World Cup held in Russia after 22 years of not participating in the tournament, he won the BBC African Award and also the 2017/2018 African Best Footballer Award
Cristiano Ronaldo was also outstanding in the 2017/2018 tournament, the 33-year-old playmaker also helped Real Madrid in qualifying for the champion’s league final by scoring a screamer which was later voted as the best goal of the tournament against club side Juventus, and later made the club in clinching their Champions League title for the third time in a role.
The Portugal captain and playmaker was also outstanding in the 2018 World Cup by scoring a hat-trick against Spain and he was also among the top scorers for the 2018 world cup.
Lionel Messi who was left out of the top three FIFA final list award did not perform up to the expectations of the fans, the 31-year-old Barcelona playmaker could not help his team in qualifying for the finals by crashing out to Roma In the quarterfinals.
The Argentine captain struggled with his countryside in qualifying for the 2018 Fifa World cup, and also crashing out in the knock out stage by a 4-2 goal thriller against the tournament winner France, he ended the tournament with scoring just one goal.
