Embattled Barca captain Leo Messi not among top 3 candidates for 2021 Ballon d'Or

- Lionel Messi has been ignored among candidates for the 2021 Ballon d’Or Award

- His rival Cristiano Ronaldo is not on the list either as both are out of the Champions League already

- Lewandowski, Mbappe and Haaland and are the three frontrunners for this year’s award

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Multiple Ballon d’Or winners Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo have failed to make the top 3 candidates shortlisted for the prestigious award for 2021.

French outlet L'Equipe via Tribuna are reporting that Robert Lewandowski, Kylian Mbappe and Erling Haaland are the three frontrunners for the prestigious prize year.

Messi and Ronaldo have dominated the awards for more than a decade with the duo splitting between themselves 11 awards as the Argentine won it six times while his Portuguese counterpart has scooped it five times.

This year’s award will be the first edition since 2006 that neither Messi nor Ronaldo are among the top 3 candidates.

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As per Transfermarkt, Leo has played 35 matches for Barcelona this term, recording 25 goals and 11 assists.

Although Barca are out of the Champions League, the 33-year-old can still win Copa del Rey and La Liga.

Besides, Messi's chances to win the award would undoubtedly increase if he manages to win the Copa America with Argentina this summer.

Recall that the year 2020 edition of the awards was cancelled due to the impact of the coronavirus in most parts of the year.

France Football who regularly holds the ceremony claim that there are lack of sufficient fair conditions to give the award to any player in all categories.

The likes of Bayern Munich star Robert Lewandowski and Manchester City's Kevin De Bruyne would also have also been in the race for the individual trophy as many had tipped the Bayern Munich star to win it out rightly.

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Robert Lewandowski believed he did enough to win the prestigious Ballon d'Or award last year after winning a treble with Bayern Munich.

The 32-year-old forward helped the Bavarians win the Bundesliga, German Cup and the prestigious Champions League title.

The Poland international also scored more goals than any other player in Europe with an impressive 55 strikes in 47 appearances making him the top marksman in all competitions last season.

Meanwhile, Legit.ng earlier reported that Borussia Dortmund striker Erling Haaland has set new Champions league record following his brace in their 2-2 draw with Spanish side Sevilla.

Dortmund dumped the La Liga outfit out of the tournament after the German side won 5-4 on aggregates.

The Bundesliga outfit are now through to the quarter-final of the competition, their first in four years and all thanks to main man Haaland.

Babajide is a digital publishing expert, an avid sports content thinker, researcher and writer. He is a graduate of Guidance and Counselling, having bagged his B.SC (ED) from the Ekiti State University. He can be reached on Twitter @JideOrevba