Ronaldo, Messi and Neymar have been confirmed as the final three candidates for the FIFA Ballon d'Or award.

Earlier today, FIFA released the official list of the last three finalists for the Ballon d’Or award to be held in January. As usual, both Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo appeared in the three-man list, after dominating it for years. However, many fans and pundits alike had expected both Neymar and Luis Suarez, who are part of the famous ''MSN’’ attacking trio, to feature in the list.

Suarez celebrates one of his goals for Barca with his teammate Leo and Neymar 

Suarez, Messi and Neymar

While Neymar made it through as the third candidate for the coveted award, his teammate Luis Suarez was conspicuously missing, despite being in great form for the Catalans. The exclusion of the Uruguayan from the list of the last three finalists sparked mixed reactions across various social media platforms. This year alone, the lethal forward has been in sensational form for Barca; something that is very impossible to ignore. 

Here is a quick preview of his achievements in numbers: 

  • Played 31 matches
  • Scored 21 goals
  • Provided 12 assists
  • Created 54 chances 
  • Scored in each of his last 7 appearances for Barca 

Yet, despite his tremendous achievement on the pitch, he still failed to make it to the final list of probable Ballon d’Or winners in 2015. With such amazing statistics, it is no surprise that some fans were not pleased with the list. Some of them openly expressed their disappointment on Twitter:

To further understand the reason why some fans and pundits believe Suarez should have been included in the list, the striking trio of Messi, Suarez and Neymar has scored 125 goals in 2015. This is the same amount of goals scored by Bayern Munich as a team this year, and is also more than any other team in Europe. Interestingly, Barca’s perennial rivals Real Madrid have only managed to score 112 goals as a team since the beginning of 2015. 

Suarez has been in superb form for Barca this year, having scored 40 goals since January 1, 2015 

Suarez celebrates his goal for Barca

Out of the 125 goals, Suarez has scored 40 of them, Neymar 41 and Messi 44. However, as it stands right now, Suarez’s fans will have to wait a little bit longer to see him win the Ballon d’Or or at least appear in the list of the last three finalists. But if he maintains consistency in his performances for Barca and Uruguay, then 2016 could be his year to shine.