Snubbing Lionel Messi was a foolish decision by FIFA

What were FIFA thinking?

Lionel Messi is a player whose name conjures images of great dribbles and fantastic dribbles, his name will surely go down as one of the greatest players of all time, if not the greatest of all time. So, his omission from the FIFA World Best Player shortlist is truly baffling, it is a decision that has made FIFA ridiculed by players, pundits and fans.

Messi last season was the main reason that Barcelona had a cup-and-league double in which they nearly became the first side in La Liga history to go through the whole season unbeaten. Yet, this Barcelona side is definitely not the European juggernaut that once processed Xavi and Puyol or the team that won the treble recently which had the talents of Neymar to complete the much-feared MSN front three.

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No, this Barcelona side had an ageing Iniesta, an off-colour Suarez and the likes of Ousmane Dembele, Paco Alcacer and Andre Gomes failed to find consistency throughout the season but Messi managed to be magic stardust lifting Barcelona to greater heights while maintaining consistency throughout the season.

Granted, Barcelona capitulated in the Champions League and Argentina had a disappointing performance in the World Cup but if not for Messi’s hattrick against Ecuador, Argentina wouldn’t have been in the World Cup at all! While Messi was the factor that tipped the Champions League Round-of-16 tie in Barcelona’s favour.

Doing well in international and continental competitions  is how players these days are measured, you look at the three players that ended up in the FIFA World Best Player award shortlist, Ronaldo, Salah and Modric, these players did well in their respective leagues and domestic cups but it was in the Champions League and the World Cup where they truly excelled.

Mo Salah had a great Premier League campaign at Liverpool where he was the top-scorer with 32 strikes but him being in the shortlist was probably because of the fact that he led Liverpool to the Champions League Final and Egypt to its first World Cup in 28 years. Similarly, Modric probably wouldn’t have been in the shortlist if it wasn’t for his inspiring performances with Real Madrid in the Champions League and Croatia in the World Cup.

Ronaldo is a prime example of a player where his international and continental performances greatly enhanced his stock. Simply put, if domestic form was recognised why were Kevin De Bruyne and the other Manchester City players who created Premier League history, not in the shortlist.

The reason for this might be that the Premier League has been monopolised by the Big Six and La Liga by Real Madrid, Barcelona and Atletico Madrid.  Obviously, the short-listed players are great players and would be deserving of winning the award but to those that say, Messi abilities are waning, they are definitely most wrong.

The question that FIFA must answer what constitutes with a player being awarded the best player of the year, is it the consistency of performances, how much goals they’ve scored or how much trophies they’ve won because if its consistency Lionel Messi is a clear winner of the FIFA World Best Player of the Year award.

Do you think Lionel Messi should have been shortlisted?