Fifa have released the nominees for their awards ceremony which will take place on 23 October.
Fighting it out for the honour of the best player is the expected trio of Real Madrid’s Cristiano Ronaldo, Barcelona’s Lionel Messi and Paris Saint-Germain’s Neymar while Massimiliano Allegri, Antonio Conte and Zinedine Zidane are all up for best coach.
Fifa best short-lists pic.twitter.com/b4rlwJayT5
— Henry Winter (@henrywinter) September 22, 2017
Manchester United supporters are not too sure how to feel about the list of nominees as they feel hard done by given the fact that their goalkeeper, David De Gea, has been left off the shortlist for best goalkeeper.
Gianluigi Buffon, Keylar Navas and Manuel Neuer are up for that particular prize but United supporters are fuming with De Gea’s omission.
De Gea should have made the list ahead of Navas. But, it is FIFA, you know.
— Mr Folarin (@Folarinfotos) September 22, 2017
How on earth is Kaylor Navas better than David De Gea #FIFA #MUFC
— Kofi Giggs 🇬🇧🇬🇭 (@kofi_ankamah) September 22, 2017
https://twitter.com/ashxcarrington/status/911233691996667904
Interesting that de gea who was class last season did not make the final three goalkeepers list and a player like navas did hmm
— Daniel Hickey (@Hickeyd29Hickey) September 22, 2017
https://twitter.com/LewisSimpson1/status/911231125544108032
United do have a player up for an award, however, because summer signing Nemanja Matic is up for the Puskas award, the prize given to the scorer of the best goal that year.
Matic has been nominated for his thunderous strike for Chelsea in the FA Cup semi-final against Tottenham in May and while he represented a different club at the time, Red Devils fans are fully behind their new midfielder, with some already registering their votes for his effort.
https://twitter.com/Joe_Lyons_/status/911238414338592769
Matic has been up for the award before, with another long-range effort of his, for former club Benfica in their 2-2 draw with Porto in January 2013, nominated for the Puskas that year.
And the Serbian midfielder actually preferred his goal for Benfica over the one that nestled in the back of the Spurs net in May.
“It was a nice goal! But first of all I want to say I am very happy for the team, that we’re going to play in the final,” Matic told BBC Sport.
“Today was hard against a very good team. Congratulations to Spurs, who didn’t give up.
“I am happy for my goal, it was a great goal, but it’s not the best I’ve ever scored. I scored a harder one in a Benfica vs Porto derby… this is perhaps my second best ever!”
