Paris Saint-Germain superstar duo Lionel Messi and Kylian Mbappe have been excluded from the strongest line-up of 2021 by French media alongside Manchester United forward Cristiano Ronaldo.
None of the stars was included in L’Equipe’s strongest XI of the calendar year, although PSG central defender Marquinhos does make the line-up.
Seven of the 11 players come from the Premier League, with Real Madrid frontman Karim Benzema, Bayern Munich striker Robert Lewandowski and Milan left-back Theo Hernandez also making the cut.
The exclusion of Messi – and his attacking teammates in the French capital - is likely to raise eyebrows.
The 34-year-old collected his seventh Ballon d'Or title as he scooped the 2021 accolade in late November, but his early form in the French capital has fallen far short of his sky-high expectations.
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The Argentine superstar has found it difficult to adapt to French football in the opening half of the campaign following his high-profile summer transfer from Barcelona.
He has found the net just once in Ligue 1 so far in his opening 11 matches in the division amid fears that he will fall short of 20 domestic league goals for the first campaign since 2007/08.
Messi scored a grand total of 43 goals for club and country across all competitions in the calendar year of 2021 while he won two trophies – the Copa del Rey with Barcelona and the Copa America.
The latter was Argentina’s first major international trophy since 1993 and the first of Messi’s career – as they beat Brazil in the showpiece event in July.
His attacking partner Mbappe has already scored 16 goals across all competitions this campaign but also missed out on a starting spot in the team, where he was eclipsed by Lewandowski and Benzema.
That meant that Cristiano Ronaldo also did not make the side despite netting 47 goals across all competitions and finishing as the Golden Boot winner at last summer’s European Championships.
As explained by L’Equipe, the journalists of the French newspaper, website and channel, chose each footballer in an order of preference - divided into: goalkeeper, right-back, left-back, central defender, defensive midfielder, offensive midfielder and forward.
L’Equipe explain: “ Lionel Messi is only seventh in the votes of the L'Équipe editorial team among the center forwards, a victim of high-level competition in this position, and his highly contrasted season so far in Paris.
“The Copa America won during the summer with Argentina was not enough for the former Barça player, already absent in 2020 after he had been in the line-up continuously from 2008 to 2019.″
Chelsea trio Edouard Mendy, Jorginho and N’Golo Kante are included in the line-up, alongside Liverpool ’s Trent Alexander-Arnold and Mohamed Salah, and Manchester City duo Ruben Dias and Kevin De Bruyne.
