The winner of FIFA’s The Best Men’s Player of the Year award could once again be Cristiano Ronaldo.

The Portuguese star is in the running to claim the prize for the third-straight year at a ceremony in London on September 24.

Ronaldo faces competition from former Real Madrid teammate Luka Modric and Liverpool star Mohamed Salah.

All three enjoyed terrific seasons.

Ronaldo and Modric hoisted the Champions League trophy once again before the midfielder went on to lead Croatia to the semi-final of the World Cup.

As for Salah, his debut season at Anfield was superb. The Egyptian scored 44 goals in all competitions as Liverpool reached the Champions League final.

Yet, despite their achievements, many can’t believe that Lionel Messi isn’t among the three finalists.

Messi's snub

To suggest that Messi hasn’t been one of the best three players over the past year is ridiculous. He won the Pichichi Trophy and provided the most assists in La Liga last season.

The Argentinian also helped Barcelona to La Liga and Copa del Rey glory.

It seems as though Messi has been hurt by Barcelona’s Champions League run coming to an end at the quarter-final stage as well as Argentina’s disappointing showing at the World Cup.

Luis Suarez, who has the privilege of playing with Messi each week, has weighed in on Messi’s omission. And he’s spoken with a lot of sense.

The Barcelona striker made the point that Messi doesn’t need the vote of players and journalists to confirm his status as the best player in history - he’s done that with his performances on the pitch.

"I don't think that any award [Messi] does or doesn't win takes anything away from what he has won and what he keeps on achieving," Suarez told ESPN.

"It's just like when I was scoring goals and deserved [to win] things, I was above all that. You prove yourself by working hard, with what you do in every game.

"The prizes that are worth more are the ones you win on the pitch.

“An example of that is being top scorer: no one can take that away from you because you won it with the goals you scored, proving yourself on the pitch, not because of a vote by players and journalists."

Suarez is right.

And perhaps the most important thing to note is that Messi probably doesn’t care about his snub.

As long as Barcelona are winning, he's happy.