Neymar and Messi wanted Luis Suarez to be up for Ballon d’Or

Neymar and Lionel Messi have claimed that their Barcelona teammate Luis Suarez should have been included in the three-man shortlist for the FIFA Ballon d’Or instead of Cristiano Ronaldo.

Real Madrid‘s Ronaldo is in contention to claim his third Ballon d’Or gong in a row, but he will need to beat Messi and Neymar as both have also been shortlisted for the title.

Suarez, who joined Barcelona from Liverpool in the summer of 2014, has been overlooked, despite contributing to the 125 goals scored between himself, Neymar and Messi, known as ‘MSN’, over the last calendar year.

“Suarez should have been there too, but Messi is favourite, he’s the number one for me,” the Daily Mailquotes Neymar as saying. “Secret of MSN? Friendship and modesty. Leo and Luis are great friends, I hope to play with them for a long time, there are no egos.”

Messi also gave his backing to Suarez by saying: “I’d have liked to be on [the] Ballon d’Or podium with Neymar and Luis. Luis deserved it, but Cristiano also did well. We’ll have a good time.”

The winner will be announced on January 11 in Zurich.