Having shared FIFA's The Best Men's Player award over the past 10 years, neither Lionel Messi nor Cristiano Ronaldo, attended the gala. Here are the reported reasons why.
Read: FIFA Announce 2018 World Team Of The Year, Salah Snubbed
The two superstars have lifted the prestigious award five times each over the past ten years, but were beaten by Luka Modric to the 2018 accolade.
Ronaldo finished in second place and was one of the final three nominees, while Messi ended up in fifth spot – the first time the Argentine has finished outside the top three since 2006.
Modric also became the first player other than Messi and Ronaldo to lift the award since Ricardo Kaka did in 2007, but neither of the previous winners attended the gala to pay their respects to the Croatian.
So where were Ronaldo and Messi this time around?
The FC Barcelona talisman had reportedly planned to attend the ceremony, but decided, on Monday, to not travel to London due to "personal reasons".
According to AS, Messi informed Barcelona on Monday morning that he would not be attending, and the club then informed FIFA.
Ronaldo, meanwhile, did not travel to London due to Juventus' hectic schedule, according to Marca. As a consequence and despite being one of the three shortlisted players for the main prize, the Portugal captain opted to not travel to London.
This time around, though, Ronaldo, who snubbed the UEFA awards a month ago without a warning after being told that Modric would beat him to the main prize, reportedly informed the event organisers that he would be staying away.
Read: Modric Named World's Best, Ends Ronaldo-Messi Reign
Ronaldo and Juventus played on Sunday evening and will be in action again on Wednesday night, which was seemingly enough reason for Ronaldo to not attend the FIFA gala.
Do you think Ronaldo and Messi should have attended the FIFA gala? Have your say in the comments section below.
