Messi misses out on ‘Best FIFA Player Award’ shortlist for 1st time in 12 years
BARCELONA: Argentina and Barcelona star Lionel Messi has failed to make it to the nominations list of ‘Best FIFA Men’s Player Award’ for the first time in 12 years as Cristiano Ronaldo, Luka Modric and Mohamed Salah found their names in the list of three.
Messi has been a prominent feature in the nominations list since 2007 and has won the award six times and finished runner-up five times.
Ronaldo was the competition’s top scorer in lifting a fourth Champions League title in five years before heading for new pastures with Juventus in July.
Modric is also part of the Madrid side that has dominated the Champions League in recent years and won the Golden Ball for the best player at the World Cup for leading Croatia to the final in Russia.
Salah scored 44 goals in an incredible debut season for Liverpool before being robbed of his chance to make an impression in the Champions League final by an early injury.
BARCA, BETIS WIN
BARCELONA: Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez scored twice each as La Liga champions Barcelona turned on the style to hammer Huesca 8-2 on Sunday while Real Betis ended a 12-year wait for a home victory over local rivals Sevilla by winning the local derby 1-0.
Barcelona also put eight goals past Huesca in their last meeting at the Nou Camp in the Copa del Rey in an 8-1 win in 2014, while this was their biggest win in the league since thumping Deportivo La Coruna 8-0 away from home in April, 2016.
TENNIS PLAYER BANNED
LONDON: Argentina’s Patricio Heras has been banned from tennis for five years and fined $25,000 for match-fixing and other related offences. Heras was convicted of contriving outcome of a match played at the ATP Challenger tournament in Barranquilla, Colombia in September 2015.