Messi: Suarez deserved Ballon d'Or nomination

Lionel Messi believes Barcelona team-mate Luis Suarez deserved to be named among the finalists for this year’s Ballon d’Or.

The Argentina international was named as one of the three players up for the prestigious individual prize on Monday, with Cristiano Ronaldo and Neymar the other two.

That meant there was no room for Suarez, the third member of Barca’s three-man attack.

Between them, they have scored 125 goals in 2015 so far, with the Uruguayan contributing 40 of them - including several important strikes as Barca clinched the treble last season.