Barcelona attacking pairing Luis Suarez and Lionel Messi have both missed out on finalists slots for the Uefa Best Player in Europe award.

Gareth Bale was the surprise name among the top three as the Welsh wing was joined by the likes of Real Madrid teammate Cristiano Ronaldo as well as Atletico Madrid talisman and France hero Antoine Griezmann.

Griezmann is likely to pose the greatest threat to Cristiano Ronaldo, the favourite for the award, following his Golden Boot accolade at Euro 2016. The French striker, whose Atletico side also lost to Ronaldo and Bale’s Real in the Champions League final, doubled his counterpart’s tally of three goals for the tournament.

Ronaldo, for his part, was pivotal to Portugal as they won a maiden European crown while he also topped the Champions League scoring charts.

Finally, Bale was instrumental to Wales surprise surge all the way to the Euro 2016 semi-finals, while the forward also starred for Real particularly towards the end of last season.

Nevertheless, Messi and Suarez will be disappointed to have missed out on nominations following their glittering performances for Barcelona last term as the club won a league and cup double.

Suarez, in particular, was tremendous as the forward netted a remarkable 40 goals and added an additional 16 assists in La Liga alone.

Nominees outside of the top three:

4. Luis Suarez (Barcelona and Uruguay) – 29 points
5. Lionel Messi (Barcelona and Argentina) – 25
6. Gianluigi Buffon (Juventus and Italy) – 19
7. Pepe (Real Madrid and Portugal) – 9
8. Manuel Neuer (Bayern Munchen and Germany) – 6
9. Toni Kroos (Real Madrid and Germany) – 5
10. Thomas Müller (Bayern Munchen and Germany) – 2