Mohamed Salah makes three-man shortlist for FIFA's best men's player of the year

Liverpool talisman Mohamed Salah has been named on the final three-man shortlist for FIFA's best men's player of the year for 2021.

The Reds forward is in illustrious company alongside the other two nominees in Bayern Munich superstar Robert Lewandowski and five-time Ballon d'Or winner Lionel Messi, now of Paris Saint-Germain.

The original shortlist contained 11 names including Karim Benzema, Kevin De Bruyne, Erling Haaland, Jorginho, Neymar, N'Golo Kante, Kylian Mbappe and Cristiano Ronaldo as well as the aforementioned trio.

It has since been whittled down to leave three of the most lethal goal-scorers currently operating in European football, though the tail of the year's have gone in contrasting directions.

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Lewandowski has started the 2021/22 campaign exactly where he left off last term, finding the net on 19 occasions in just 17 games so far this term for Bayern.

Messi, however, has very much had a year of two halves after spending the first six months of it at his beloved FC Barcelona where he carried the Catalans for much of the campaign.

After 21 years of wearing the famous red and blue strip the Argentine was forced to pack his bags after Barcelona mismanaged their finances so badly they could no longer afford to keep their greatest ever player.

As a result, the Argentine ended up at French giants Paris Saint-Germain where things have hardly gone as many would have expected.

Messi has notched just one league goal in the French capital, with his other five strikes all coming in the Champions League against competition from other countries.

This could work in Salah's favour in terms of being crowned the winner as the Egyptian has more goal contributions in the league than both of his competitors.

Salah's brilliance has been on display a number of times throughout 2021, particularly during the opening exchanges of the 2021/22 season where the 29-year-old scored two wonder goals less than a fortnight apart.

The first came during a crucial clash with title rivals Manchester City at Anfield as Salah seemed to have the ball glued to his boot as he made one of the most expensively assembled back-lines in football look foolish.

The second came 13 days later during the 5-0 rout away at Watford as Salah produced a near carbon copy of the City goal to leave the Hornets bewildered.

The virtual awards ceremony will be broadcast live from the Home of FIFA in Zurich on 17 January, 2022 where the winner for both the men's and women's best player will be crowned.