4 things we learned from Lionel Messi's FIFA Player Of The Year award snub

We are racing into the latter stages of the year and football's governing body (FIFA) is wasting no time in the attempt to reward the most impressive superstars for another term - recently releasing their final 3-man shortlist to compete for the Player Of The Year award.

For the first time in 10 years, Barcelona playmaker Lionel Messi was ignored on the final shortlist, with Portuguese superstar Cristiano Ronaldo, his ex-teammate Luka Modric and Liverpool maestro Mohamed Salah making up the final 3 contenders for the award.

Just as we would expect, FIFA's decision to snub the Argentine legend from their final shortlist has been met with so much criticism - with many people rising up to the defense of the playmaker and slamming the association for such a ridiculous omission.

As a matter of fact, Lionel Messi was one of the top performers on the planet last season, bagging a whopping 44 goals and 18 assists in 52 appearances as well as helping Barcelona to claim both the La Liga title and the Copa Del Rey trophy - thereby, making his omission an unbearable one for many football enthusiasts.

Below, we take a look at 4 things that we learned from the snub:

#4 Messi's brilliance is taken for granted

A great talent and an incredible superstar

Even heavens know quite well that Lionel Messi deserved to be named among the finalists for the FIFA award this term, but it now seems people have been so familiar with his incredible brilliance that they expect him to perform at an extra-terrestrial level before they give him the recognition he deserves.

The Argentine ran riot throughout the previous season, tearing opposition defenses apart and adding a new dimension to football that made the sport look very easy and beautiful. He ended up winning the European Golden Shoe after outscoring every superstar on the continent with his amazing 34 goals in 36 appearances during the league campaign.

He also led Barcelona to claim both the La Liga title and the Copa Del Rey trophy, breaking records upon records and claiming the Pichichi award for his incredible goalscoring exploits for the term.

#3 Domestic success doesn't count anymore

The attacker had a very successful campaign domestically

One of the major reasons why many football fans have been so upset with FIFA's decision to omit Lionel Messi from their final shortlist is because the association refused to recognize the incredible achievements of the playmaker in their decision-making.

The Argentine had a great outing with Barcelona last season, producing a lot of spectacular performances and leading the Catalans to claim both the La Liga title and the Copa Del Rey trophy during the campaign. As a matter of fact, he had a better domestic outing than all of the finalists, with Cristiano Ronaldo, Luka Modric, and Mohamed Salah all having nothing to show for their domestic campaigns.

Therefore, the decision to omit Lionel Messi from the Player Of The Year award final shortlist despite his achievements with Barcelona last term is an indication that FIFA no longer attaches much value to domestic success anymore.

#2 Consistency seems to be worthless

Messi maintained an unbelievable consistency throughout last season

Lionel Messi's FIFA award snub has so many indications but one of the clearest ones is that consistency seems to be worthless at the moment, with the football governing body overlooking this important aspect of the game in its considerations.

The Argentine was arguably the most consistent performer in Europe last season, starting the campaign in an electrifying form and maintaining it till the very end. Barcelona completed a domestic coup during the term and they owe so much of the success to the playmaker who rose up at the vital moments and dragged them from victory to victory.

But, it was quite unfortunate that his consistency failed to make a case for him in the FIFA Player Of The Year award nominations - making him suffer a harsh snub when the final shortlist was released recently.

#1 The FIFA 'Best Award' has lost its credibility

Brazilian superstar, Filipe Luis leapt to the defence of the playmaker

Shortly after FIFA released their final shortlist for the Player Of The Year award recently, Atletico Madrid defender Filipe Luis was quick to slam the association for omitting Lionel Messi from the list - revealing his disappointment in an interview quoted below:

"The award is for the best player in the world. For me, today, it's Messi. Just like in previous years,"

"When he's not there, it loses credibility. It doesn't matter who wins the World Cup or the Champions League. He's the best."

As a matter fact, the Brazilian hit the nail on the wood with his comments regarding Lionel Messi's snub for the award this year, with the playmaker's omission lacking logical backing at the moment.

The Argentine scored more goals than both Cristiano Ronaldo and Mohamed Salah last season and he also created more chances and had more assists to his name than Luka Modric during the campaign. He also won more trophies than all the finalists and this becomes even ridiculous if you remember that Salah had no trophy to his name.

Despite everything, why was Messi not included among the final contenders for the award this year? Well, this remains a very important question that FIFA must provide an answer to.