Diego Maradona 'Disappointed' Lionel Messi Failed to Attend The Best FIFA Awards

Argentina legend Diego Maradona admitted he thought compatriot Lionel Messi was wrong not to appear at The Best FIFA Football Awards ceremony in Zurich, Switzerland on Monday. 

The Barcelona ace, along with the rest of the Catalan side, were not in attendance as Real Madrid's Cristiano Ronaldo beat him to the Best FIFA Men's Player Award—Atletico Madrid's Antoine Greizmann came third—mere weeks after the Portuguese star also won the Ballon d'Or ahead of Messi.

The reason offered for Barcelona's absence in a club statement was they needed to prepare for Wednesday's Copa del Rey clash with Athletic Bilbao.

However, Maradona seemed baffled at the decision to stay away, per TVE (via Vivek Chaudhary on ESPN FC):

"

I'm disappointed with Messi, from watching television at home you cannot fight anything or anyone—here you can fight.

I do not know why Barcelona did not come to such an important event. They have priorities and the priority was for Leo not to come. I think coming here [Zurich] they could fight more than they would in Barcelona.

"

Ronaldo, 31, always seemed the most likely winner of the top FIFA award given his phenomenal 2016 in which he won the UEFA Champions League with Real and UEFA Euro 2016 with Portugal.

He and Messi have been swapping major individual awards between them for the best part of the last decade and the former Manchester United man was diplomatic in his response to the Barca players' absence:

Ronaldo is currently set up to enjoy a similarly impressive 2017.

There is still a long way to go in the La Liga season but Real are five points clear of third-placed Barcelona with a game in hand.

During his seven previous full seasons at Real, Ronaldo has won the Spanish league title just once, so he will undoubtedly be desperate to help his side convert their current lead into a triumph at the end of the term.

Messi, meanwhile, is an eight-time La Liga winner. 

Barca and Real are both likely to be involved in the latter stages of the Champions League again in 2016-17, with Los Blancos going for back-to-back victories.

It would be no surprise to see Messi and Ronaldo fighting it out for the Best FIFA Men's Player Award in a year's time, and potentially both will be in attendance given the reaction to the Barca man's absence on Monday.