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Sadio Mané and Mohamed Salah are not among the three finalists for the Fifa Prize "The Best". Oli SCARFF / AFP

Africa will not be honored with the Fifa prize "The Best" which rewards the best player of the year. Sadio Mané and Mohamed Salah, though authors of a remarkable season with Liverpool are not among the three finalists candidates for the title.

European champions with Liverpool, vice-champions of England and co-top scorers in the Premier League, the 2018-19 season was almost perfect for Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mané. Obviously, it is still not enough to claim the trophy for best player of the year awarded by Fifa.

The "The Best" prize has indeed revealed the three finalists who are in the running for the title on September 23 and the Egyptian and Senegalese are not part of it. They were, however, among the ten candidates for the title before the list was reduced to three names following the votes of fans, journalists, captains and national team coaches.

Messi and Ronaldo still finalists

Once again, and without much surprise, Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo were acclaimed by the voters. Dutch defender Liverpool, imperial throughout last season, Virgil van Dijk will also be sure to be on the podium.

The 3⃣finalists for #TheBest - FIFA Player are: 🥁

🇵🇹 @Cristiano - Juventus
🇦🇷 Lionel Messi - FC Barcelona
🇳🇱 @VirgilvDijk - Liverpool

🥇🥈🥉? pic.twitter.com/cPrjK2uYkX

FIFA.com in english ⚽ (@fifacom_en) September 2, 2019

But once again, personal distinctions seem to not smile to African players. Perhaps the biggest disappointment will be for Sadio Mané who, in addition to his 22 goals in the Premier League and his victory in the Champions League with Liverpool has reached the final of the CAN with Senegal against Algeria .

Mané had already asked for more consideration

Author of a season less accomplished than the previous one, Mohamed Salah, who was one of the three finalists last year, may have less regrets, especially as his CAN at home with Egypt was a resounding failure . But it's hard to understand why his season was less successful than Lionel Messi, who has not won any trophy this season, or Cristiano Ronaldo, who has settled for a scudetto and the League of Nations with Portugal.

During the CAN in Egypt, Sadio Mané had already pushed a "mini-joke" by demanding more consideration for African players in terms of personal distinctions. His call has not been heard by the Fifa award winner "The Best", but who knows, perhaps it will be better received by journalists who elect the Ballon d'Or France Football.