All of Real Madrid's nominees are reportedly set to skip Monday night's FIFA The Best awards ceremony – here is why.
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According to The Athletic, none of the Los Blancos playing or coaching staff will be attending the ceremony as they look to prepare for their first-leg encounter with Barcelona in the Copa del Rey semi-final on Thursday.
Real drew 1-1 with crosstown rivals Atletico Madrid this past weekend in LaLiga, and are said to think it would be inappropriate to attend such an event off the back of a relatively unimpressive performance.
Los Merengues will be looking to avenge their Supercopa de Espana final defeat at the hands of Barcelona with a victory later this week, and manager Carlo Ancelotti is believed to want all the players' attention focused on the encounter.
Real do not want their non-attendance to be misconstrued as a gesture of disrespect towards FIFA, however, with the club's director of institutional relations, Emilio Butragueno, expected to attend, as is ambassador for the club Roberto Carlos.
The Real trio of Karim Benzema, Thibaut Courtois and Ancelotti are up for The Best FIFA Men's Player, The Best FIFA Men's Goalkeeper and The Best FIFA Men's Coach awards, respectfully, but some expect them to be beaten to those accolades by the Argentine 2022 FIFA World Cup-winning trinity of Lionel Messi, Emiliano Martinez and Luciano Scaloni, with there being speculation this is part of the reason why Real's nominees are choosing not to attend the ceremony in Paris.
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While Benzema and Courtois could miss out on the evening's big awards, the duo, along with midfielder Luka Modric, are likely to be selected for the FIFPRO World XI.
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