The award that Cristiano Ronaldo and Neymar got while a jealous Lionel Messi was left out

The soccer world got impressed with an award that came out recently because although some winners were expected, like Cristiano Ronaldo and Neymar, the absence of Lionel Messi there was a big surprise for everybody. People are so used to seeing both Messi and Ronaldo in every award, that when one of them is not there, it creates shock.

Curiously, in this award the players were chosen by fans. And Sergio Ramos was the only La Liga player to feature there. With Bayern Munich dominating Europe, the German team got five players in the L'Equipe 2020 World XI. Other world class players whose absences were surprising were Mohamed Salah, Kylian Mbappe and Erling Haaland.

The starting eleven of this 2020 ideal team, according to L'Equipe readers, is: Manuel Neuer; Trent Alexander-Arnold, Virgil Van Dijk, Sergio Ramos, Alphonso Davies; Kevin De Bruyne, Joshua Kimmich, Thiago Alcantara, Neymar; Robert Lewandowski and Cristiano Ronaldo. A 4-4-2 system was chosen, while every other award goes with the famous 4-3-3.

L'Equipe is a soccer newspaper with a great reputation all around the world. The French magazine is the one to organize the Ballon d'Or award every year, but in 2020 it got cancelled because of the pandemic. The Best FIFA award was the only one given last year to the best individual player of the last 12 months, and Lewandowski took it.