Mane, Kante, Bernardo and Pogba headline stars who just missed the cut for the FIFPro World XI at Fifa’s The Best awards
DESPITE Premier League teams making up the finals of both the Champions League and Europa League, FIFA saw fit to reward just two of its current stars.
Lionel Messi revealed that his pick for the best player of the year was Sadio Mane, but the Senegalese only did enough to warm the bench.
The Liverpool ace, who lines up on the same left-wing as Real Madrid's Eden Hazard, just missed out on a spot in the team's three-pronged attack.
But luckily for Hazard, FIFA know best that he is a natural central midfielder and he makes it two years running that he can line up in his favoured position.
The 28-year-old was given the nod over his former Chelsea teammate N'Golo Kante and Premier League Team of the Year star Paul Pogba.
In reality, the Belgian may have had a standout year for the Blues but he couldn't look more out of place alongside Frenkie De Jong and Luka Modric.
The latter can also be considered extremely lucky to be awarded a place over Manchester City's treble-winning star Bernardo Silva.
Croatian Modric was one of three players who featured for Real Madrid last term that made the XI, despite a season in which Los Blancos sacked two managers and finished third.
But the Spanish giants did win the mighty FIFA Club World Cup after beating the likes of Kashima Antlers and Al-Ain.
How the stars voted
Lionel Messi: 1) Sadio Mane 2) Cristiano Ronaldo 3) Frenkie De Jong
Cristiano Ronaldo: 1) Matthijs De Ligt 2) Frenkie De Jong 3) Kylian Mbappe
Virgil van Dijk: 1) Lionel Messi 2) Mohamed Salah 3) Sadio Mane
Harry Kane: 1) Lionel Messi 2) Virgil van Dijk 3) Cristiano Ronaldo
Gareth Southgate: 1) Lionel Messi 2) Cristiano Ronaldo 3) Virgil van Dijk
Andy Robertson: 1) Virgil van Dijk 2) Frenkie de Jong 3) Sadio Mane
Eden Hazard: 1) Sadio Mane 2) Virgil van Dijk 3) Lionel Messi
Luka Modric: 1) Cristiano Ronaldo 2) Eden Hazard 3) Lionel Messi
Hugo Lloris: 1) Lionel Messi 2) Cristiano Ronaldo 3) Kylian Mbappe
Giorgio Chiellini: 1) Cristiano Ronaldo 2) Frenkie de Jong 3) Mohamed Salah
Marcelo, who spent much of the campaign frozen out until Zinedine Zidane's return in March, has now made the shortlist for FIVE years in a row.
The Brazilian's three assists last year meant he was a shoo-in to be chosen ahead of Andrew Roberston, who can only claim to have set up 13 goals and won the Champions League.
Marcelo also succeeded in keeping four cleans sheets in La Liga last season, whereas his Scottish rival only managed a paltry 21.
Dani Alves’ reign of four consecutive seasons in the XI finally came to an end, but the 36-year-old still did not do enough to be crowned the world's best right-back ahead of Trent Alexander-Arnold.
That left the team itself with no natural RB, as FIFA shoehorned Sergio Ramos into the side despite the Spaniard not playing regularly as a full-back for more than a decade.
The 33-year-old captained a Madrid defence that conceded 71 goals in all competitions on his way to picking up 12 yellow cards and 1 red.
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So Serie A and Premier League Team of the Year defenders Kalidou Koulibaly and Aymeric Laporte should be grateful for their 13th and 17th respective spots.
Raheem Sterling did win the Football Writers’ Player of the Year and PFA YPOTY after helping City retain the league title and win both domestic trophies.
But that didn't quite live up to the standards Neymar set from a hospital bed, with the Paris Saint-Germain earning the number six spot despite an injury-ravaged season.