LIONEL MESSI will not attend tonight’s Fifa ‘The Best’ ceremony — which all but confirms Cristiano Ronaldo has won the award.
Barcelona face Athletic Bilbao on Wednesday for their Copa del Rey round of 16 clash second leg, with the Basque side leading 2-1 from their first meeting.
And players decided in unison not to travel to Zurich for Fifa’s inaugural ‘The Best’ ceremony, as a poor recent run of form has added extra pressure to the tie.
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Messi, Andres Iniesta, Gerard Pique, Neymar and Luis Suarez were all due to attend.
Barcelona’s No.10 was expected to challenge red-hot favourite Ronaldo for the award, with Antoine Griezmann another potential candidate.
While the rest of his team-mates in question were in contention for the Team of Year — a category which is generally dominated by the Catalans.
Ronaldo won the Champions League with Real Madrid and Euro 2016 with Portugal, before claiming a fourth Ballon d’Or.
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MARCA report that Fifa are less than pleased with the absence of any Barcelona representation.
New president, Gianni Infantino, has made a host of sweeping changes as tries to repair the tarnished image of football’s governing body, following various public scandals.
First among them was to resurrect the Fifa World Player of the Year award, which ran from 1991 until 2009.
It merged with France Football’s Ballon d’Or to create one individual, annual award.
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Infantino sanctioned a £13million-split and cares deeply for the prestige of the honour.
Despite the ceremony taking place in Zurich, Fifa’s Swiss president hopes to enhance its reputation by taking it around other European cities.
So, Barcelona’s decision to snub his big day will not have gone down very well.
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