Lionel Messi Joins Cristiano Ronaldo in Not Attending FIFA's The Best Awards

Barcelona superstar Lionel Messi will reportedly be absent from The Best FIFA Football Awards 2018 in London on Monday as will Cristiano Ronaldo.

According to Joaquin Maroto of AS, the Argentinian, who is not one of the three finalists for The Best FIFA Men's Player award, originally accepted the invitation to the ceremony, but he will now not be able to attend for unspecified "personal reasons."

Ronaldo, Liverpool's Mohamed Salah and Real Madrid's Luka Modric are the finalists for the top men's gong, with Messi controversially failing to make the shortlist despite another remarkable season in 2017-18, per Squawka:

He is, though, up for the Puskas Award for goal of the year for his strike against Nigeria in the 2018 FIFA World Cup.

It is also possible he will be included in the FIFA FIFPro World XI.

Ronaldo and Messi have monopolised FIFA's best player award for the last decade, winning it five times each.

The Portuguese superstar could well keep the run going by winning a sixth Monday after playing a key role in Real's third successive UEFA Champions League win back in May before his summer move to Juventus.

But Modric poses a major threat to Messi and Ronaldo's dominance after also being key in Real's European success and then leading Croatia to the World Cup Final.

Whatever happens, neither Messi or Ronaldo will be in attendance to see it.