Barcelona Fans Can't Believe Lionel Messi UEFA Player Of The Year Snub

Lionel Messi has been savagely omitted from the shortlist for Uefa's Player of the Year awards, with rival Cristiano Ronaldo big favourite to win the award for a record fourth time.

Ronaldo, who joined Juventus in the summer won the Champions League with Real Madrid, his third in the last four years, but was his all round performance for club and country better than the diminutive Argentinians?

The award, which rivals the Ballon d'Or is run by UEFA and perhaps there in lies the reason for Ronaldo's preference over Messi. With Mohammed Salah and Luka Modric making up the three-man short-list, the pair also played in the UEFA Champions League, although Modric was also named the Golden Ball winner in this summer's World Cup in Russia.

The bookies however make Ronaldo favourite to win his fourth and third award in a row.

Messi, himself a two-time winner finished fifth in the long-list behind fourth place Antoine Griezmann who won the World Cup with France in the summer but was outscored in both La Liga and the Champions League last season by Messi.

The 31 year old scored 45 times in 54 appearances in all competitions for Barcelona last season, Messi's stats the most impressive of any player in Europe when it comes to goalscoring and assists. 34 of his goals came in 36 appearances in La Liga whilst he netted six times in ten Champions League matches, whilst contributing 18 assists from those 45 matches.

Ronaldo scored 44 times in all competitions for Real Madrid last season, albeit in ten games fewer than Messi and it's the fifteen goals in thirteen Champions League matches that sets the pair apart. Ronaldo's assist record was far worst though, with just fife in La Liga and three in the Champions League, although the Portuguese forward would often lead the attack for Madrid.

It may have been a record 13th win in the Champions League for Real but Ronaldo couldn't win La Liga for Madrid, who finished a distant third last season behind Lionel Messi's Barcelona, with seventeen points between the pair. Messi and Barca also won the Copa De Rey, so Messi would be well within his rights to be a bit miffed for his shortlist omission.