Dimitar Berbatov doesn't believe that Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo deserve to be nominated alongside Robert Lewandowski in the FIFA Best awards.
Earlier this year France Football announced there would be no Ballon d'Or winner this year because of the state of flux football, and the world, was in due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
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To many that meant that Lewandowski was going to miss out on the award the should be going his way, after scoring the goals to guide Bayern Munich to the Champions League.
The Polish striker could still be named as the Best Player in the World at the FIFA Best awards, which take place on Thursday, after he was nominated alongside Messi and Ronaldo.
Former Manchester United striker Berbatov doesn't think the men who have won 11 Ballon d'Ors between them belong of the list though.
"I'm surprised Ronaldo and Messi are among finalists for the Fifa Best award as I'm not sure they deserved to be there," the Bulgarian told Betfair.
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"I think they should give it to Robert Lewandowski. I think he deserves it. I'm not that sure who else should be there.
"People will always argue and speculate about who should be there. It is these three players and I think Lewandowski deserves to get the award. It would be unfair if he didn't win it.
"I think it was unfair the Golden Ball didn't happen this year as he was my favourite and a lot of people's favourite. I think he should have got that award and hopefully this will be compensation. Sometimes unfortunately football is business and behind the curtains and the PR/Agents work way more away the camera from what you see.
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"For me, Lewandowski is up there with the best strikers in modern football. This is a subject where nobody can agree on one player as in my opinion you cannot compare players from different times. Kane, Messi, Ronaldo, Aguero who have been scoring goals for many years are among the best.
"There are others, but with Lewandowski the way he plays the game and moves around the pitch, he should be in my three top strikers; he is great."
Messi and Ronaldo have only been stopped by Luka Modric winning the big awards in the past 12 years, with the Real Madrid midfielder winning the Ballon d'Or and FIFA Best in 2018, but don't look likely this season.
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Ronaldo helped Juventus win Serie A for the ninth year in-a-row but Messi couldn't even win the league and both men failed in the Champions League too.
The pair can at least take some comfort in being named in France Football's Ballon d'Or All Time XI.
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