The 2018 FIFA TheBest Awards may have come and gone but the controversies remain.
Beside Luka Modric, deservedly, winning the top accolade, eyebrows were raised in other categories.
Here are five reasons the latest award wasn’t the best as acclaimed.
1. Mohamed Salah made the three-man shortlist for Player of the Year but failed to make the Team of the Year. Instead, Kylian Mbappe, Eden Hazard & Lionel Messi were in the XI.
2. Likewise, Thibaut Courtois won Best Goalkeeper, but it was David de Gea who was in the Team of the Year.
3. Manchester City, Barcelona, Juventus & Bayern Munich won their respective leagues by a combined 58 points. Only Lionel Messi of Barca made the Team of the Year.
4. Meanwhile, Chelsea, who finished fifth, had two players in the Team of the Year (N’Golo Kante & Hazard) and their goalkeeper was voted Best Goalkeeper (Courtois).
5. Dani Alves started just 23 league games for Paris Saint-Germain and did not go to the World Cup. Yet made the team.
