Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo are absent from the final shortlist for the UEFA Men’s Player of the Year for the first time in a decade.
Bayern Munich duo Robert Lewandowski and Manuel Neuer, plus Manchester City’s Kevin De Bruyne, were nominated for the 2020 edition on Wednesday.
But in a sign of changing times in the game, Messi and Ronaldo didn’t make the top three after coming up short in the Champions League.
Barcelona star Messi won the UEFA award in 2010-11 and 2014-15 having been nominated six times in the past 10 seasons.
Ronaldo, of Juventus, has collected the accolade three times – in 2013-14, 2015-16 and 2016-17 – all while playing for Real Madrid.
He has been shortlisted nine times, finishing second in 2017-18 and third on five occasions.
His Juventus side were stunned by Lyon in the last-16 of the Champions League as they again bombed out of Europe’s premier competition.
Messi’s Barcelona suffered an even greater humiliation, however, as eventual winners Bayern thrashed them 8-2 in the quarter-finals.
