‘When he’s not there, it loses credibility,’ said Luis on Messi, who was snubbed from FIFA ‘The Best’ shortlist earlier this week.
FIFA has recently announced the shortlist for the Men’s Player of the Year award, and have named Cristiano Ronaldo, Mohamed Salah and Luka Modric. Earlier in the UEFA Awards, the same trio was nominated for the UEFA Best Player of the Year, where Luka Modric was named the winner.
The most notable exclusion from both the awards is of 5-time Ballon d’Or winner, Lionel Messi. The Argentine maestro was ignored from both the awards, raising a lot of eye brows on the footballing authorities.
Many fans have come out in support of Messi, who had a brilliant domestic season with Barcelona. The club reached out on social media in support of their captain, while other players also criticized the nominations.
One of them was Atletico Madrid’s Filipe Luis, who spoke to Globoesporte and gave his opinion on the best player in the world.
“The award is for the best player in the world. For me, today, it’s Messi. Just like in previous years.
“When he’s not there, it loses credibility. It doesn’t matter who wins the World Cup or the Champions League. He’s the best.”
He also claimed that it was “bizarre” that no one from the World Cup winning team of France made it to the top three. Kylian Mbappe, Raphael Varane and Antoine Griezmann all had brilliant seasons at club as well as international level.
However, with the nominations already being made, one of Cristiano Ronaldo, Mohamed Salah and Luka Modric will get their hands on the award at the end of this month.
German playmaker, Toni Kroos was questioned on Twitter about who he thinks is the best player out of the three nominated by FIFA.
Kroos enjoys sharing the midfield with Luka Modric at Real Madrid, and has dished out various passes to Cristiano Ronaldo until the Portuguese left the Santiago Bernabeu this past summer.
Also read: Did Lionel Messi deserve to be in FIFA ‘The Best’ shortlist?
The German international is not related to Mohamed Salah, but the 28-year-old chose to remain diplomatic and resisted himself from naming the best candidate for the award.
Instead, Kroos made fun of the situation, replying: “I’m out?” signalling as if he believed that he was also among the players nominated for the award.
A brilliant tactic indeed to avoid choosing between his current and former team-mate!
