Barcelona: Lionel Messi fails to make three-man UEFA Player of the Year shortlist

UEFA have announced the shortlist for the Men’s Player of the Year award and Lionel Messi was a shock absentee.

The three-man UEFA Player of the Year shortlist has been announced in preparation for the Champions League group stage draw at the end of August where the winner will be officially announced. Mohamed Salah, Luka Modric and Cristiano Ronaldo are the three players up for the award.

There is no denying that all three players had excellent seasons, but it appears as if Messi is a victim of his own remarkable consistency because his season as an individual can comfortably compete with all three on the shortlist.

Salah had an astounding first season with Liverpool because he scored a total of 44 goals, with 32 coming in the league and 11 in the Champions League. His goals helped take Liverpool to the Champions League final, but he had to go off injured due to a terrible tackle by Sergio Ramos and his side lost 3-1. He also suffered the disappointment of being knocked out in the group stage of the World Cup with Egypt, although he did manage to score twice.

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Modric has the most convincing case because he was the driving force behind Real Madrid’s Champions League title, which has been the case for the past few seasons, as well as taking Croatia to a World Cup final. Without him, neither side would have been as successful due to how he is able to control matches and dictate the tempo of proceedings. However, he was part of a poor league title defence because Real Madrid finished 17 points behind Barcelona in third place.

Ronaldo finished as top scorer in the Champions League with 15 goals out of a total of 44 in all competitions for Los Blancos. However, he failed to score in the semi-finals or the final and seven of his goals came against APOEL and a poor Borussia Dortmund side. He started strongly at the World Cup with an excellent performance against Spain in which he scored a hat-trick, but his form deteriorated after that with Portugal getting knocked out in the Round of 16 by Uruguay.

Messi carried Barcelona to a domestic double and was unbeaten in the league. He scored 45 goals in all competitions including 34 in La Liga, which led to him winning the European Golden Shoe award. The World Cup was a disappointment for Argentina, but they were highly dysfunctional and he still led led to them the Round of 16 where they were only just beaten by eventual winners France.

"“The award recognises the best players, irrespective of nationality, playing for a club within the territory of a UEFA member association during the past season. Players are judged on their performances in all competitions – domestic, continental and international.”UEFA criteria for the award"

It’s certainly odd that Messi didn’t make the list ahead of either Salah or Ronaldo. The 31-year-old did have a poor performance against Roma when Barcelona were knocked out of the Champions League quarter-finals, although the team as a whole were bad. This suggests that the Champions League has a large influence on the votes because the three nominees all reached the final. It also serves as an early warning that the Ballon d’or might be the same.

Based on performances in all competitions, Modric deserves the award and Croatia’s feat of reaching the final should be enough to convince because it’s truly remarkable what they were able to achieve.