Playing for 90
Fansided

Messi and Ronaldo snub FIFA award ceremony: What does it make of them?

By Atharva Khadilkar

MADRID, SPAIN - DECEMBER 23: Lionel Messi of FC Barcelona and Cristiano Ronaldo of Real Madrid walk off pitch during La Liga match between Real Madrid and FC Barcelona at Santiago Bernabeu stadium on December 23, 2017 in Madrid, Spain. (Photo by Power Sport Images/Getty Images)
MADRID, SPAIN - DECEMBER 23: Lionel Messi of FC Barcelona and Cristiano Ronaldo of Real Madrid walk off pitch during La Liga match between Real Madrid and FC Barcelona at Santiago Bernabeu stadium on December 23, 2017 in Madrid, Spain. (Photo by Power Sport Images/Getty Images) /
facebooktwitterreddit

Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi did not turn up for FIFA’s Award Ceremony in London on Monday, leading to a frown on many faces.

Football’s biggest award ceremony organized by FIFA took place at the London Palladium on Monday evening. It was the third edition of FIFA’s The Best Player Award in which several other accolades were also distributed. This year was nothing short of memorable and had some special memories.

The biggest of those events, of course, being the World Cup 2018 which was held in Russia. In the middle of July, France unsurprisingly lifted the biggest trophy that football has on offer and was strongly represented at the award ceremony. N’Golo Kante, Kylian Mbappe and Raphael Varane were all part of the World XI after their exploits with their country and respective clubs.

Didier Deschamps was awarded with FIFA’s Best Coach Award for leading his team to the summit of the world. However, the person who stole the show was Croatia and Real Madrid midfielder, Luka Modric. He became the first player since Ricardo Kaka in 2007 to lift the FIFA Best Player Award to claim the award and not have Messi or Ronaldo in his name.

The ceremony went pretty efficiently and prestigiously, but was left a little empty by the absences of Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi. While the latter was included in the World XI, Ronaldo was in contention for the Best Player Award and got his name inscribed in the FIFA World XI.

More from FC Barcelona

Personal view

Both of their dominance on the FIFA podium was ended by an unlikely man- Luka Modric. But it would have been an extremely sporting gesture from the two mercurial giants had they chosen to come and attend the award ceremony. It was clearly an unsportsmanlike gesture from the two.

Messi and Ronaldo deserve all due respect for feeling hurt by being omitted on the big stage, but should bear in mind that there were other players who did not give up and applauded their brilliance for ten straight years while they picked up the recognitions at will and competed in a two-horse race. In addition, Cristiano also snubbed UEFA’s award ceremony back in August.

Next. Real Madrid: The devil works hard, Florentino Perez works harder. dark

An act like this does not make either of them look small but their absence from the absence ceremony was widely disliked by a lot of footballing personalities. It does show the unseen arrogant side of the two and moreover, their unsporting signals which will be remembered for long.

Home/FC Barcelona