Ronaldo, Costa and Vela nominated for 'Best Striker of 2013/14' award, Messi left out

Nominees Cristiano Ronaldo Diego Costa and Carlos Vela

Cristiano Ronaldo, Diego Costa and Carlos Vela have been nominated as the three finalists for LFP’s ‘Best Striker of 2013/14’ award.

The La Liga trio have impressed both fans and pundits alike as they were instrumental figures for their sides, scoring important goals last season. However, former winner Lionel Messi has been surprisingly left out of the nominations this year.

Ronaldo has scored over 30 goals for the fourth consecutive season

Ronaldo is the front runner and the red hot favourite to claim this award. The Real Madrid attacker tallied a total of 31 goals this season which saw him already bring home the European Golden Boot. Averaging 1.03 goals per game, this was his fourth consecutive season where he scored over 30 goals. The Ballon D’Or holder also registered 216 shots on goal.

Chelsea striker Diego Costa is also up for the accolade after enjoying a great campaign with his former club Atletico Madrid. The 26-year-old netted 27 goals in the Spanish league and was significantly responsible for Atletico’s historic La Liga win after 18 years.

Former winner Lionel Messi ignored

Carlos Vela of Real Sociedad rounds up the list of nominees as he scored 16 goals in 37 games for the Basque side. Even though his individual stats are feeble when compared to his fellow contenders, the Mexican was instrumental in Sociedad’s qualification in the Champions League and this was his best individual season so far.

The exclusion of Lionel Messi from this award has astonished many after the Barcelona attacker was dropped from the final three list. The four-time Ballon D’Or winner’s later half of the season was disrupted by lingering hamstring injuries and even after being the second top-scorer in La Liga, he was left out for the award.

The LFP awards ceremony will be held on 27 October, 2014 and will be broadcasted on La Sexta and via the LFP’s official website.