Six players from Champions League winners Real Madrid and four from Manchester City feature in this year’s FIFPRO World 11 announced on Monday by the global players' association, with Lionel Messi absent for the first time in almost 20 years.

Ronaldo is one of the 77 players nominated for The Best FIFA Men’s 11 of 2024, joining Messi among 22 forwards competing for a spot.

Mascherano, 40, is a former teammate of Miami star Lionel Messi. The two were teammates at FC Barcelona from 2010-18.

Peru captain Paolo Guerrero lashed out at the referees following their slender 1-0 defeat against reigning world champions Argentina in Buenos Aires on Tuesday, claiming that the Albiceleste skipper Lionel Messi received special treatment while fouls against the Peruvian players went unnoticed.

"Messi has been the type of boost that MLS has needed. The issue for MLS has been attracting stars at the end of their career," said Andrew Zimbalist, a professor at Smith College and co-author of National Pastime: How Americans Play Baseball and the Rest of the World Plays Football.

Miami had won the regular season campaign with a record points total but after losing twice in the best-of-three series, the MLS Cup favourites and their eight-times Ballon d'Or winner are out.

Portuguese winger Xande Silva blasted home a sensational winner for Atlanta in the fourth minute of stoppage time in front of 68,455 home fans at the Mercedes-Benz Stadium to level the best-of-three postseason series 1-1 and set up a winner-take-all game three in Miami next Saturday.

"I like everything related to football. I like being with kids, teaching, and also maybe being a sporting director, but I don't know where I'm going to go."

The men's shortlist for the 2023/24 edition of the prestigious individual award is the first since 2003 to feature neither Lionel Messi nor Cristiano Ronaldo who hoovered up the prize 13 times between them.

Lionel Messi and Inter Miami will feature in next year's expanded FIFA Club World Cup, FIFA president Gianni Infantino announced on Saturday.

On-fire Lionel Messi scored his second hattrick of the week and Luis Suarez scored twice as Inter Miami beat the New England Revolution 6-2 to smash MLS's regular season points record.

As for what’s next, Messi believes he’s already lived beyond his childhood dreams.

Lionel Scaloni has been witness to many of Lionel Messi's magical moments over the course of his career but the Argentina manager said on Tuesday that even at the age of 37 his captain continues to amaze him.

Making only his second international appearance since recovering from an injury sustained at the Copa America in July, Messi capitalised on a mistake by defender Marcelo Suarez to open the scoring in the 19th minute.

Argentina captain Lionel Messi and coach Lionel Scaloni blamed the condition of the pitch at the Monumental Stadium of Maturin after their 1-1 draw against Venezuela in a South American Qualifiers of the 2026 FIFA World Cup on Friday.

More than 11 million fans have flocked to Major League Soccer games this season, the league said Monday, breaking the previous record of 10.9 millions fans who attended games in 2024.

Miami started with all their big-name stars, including Lionel Messi, on the bench but the Argentine was introduced in the 61st minute to the delight of many in the Toronto crowd.

Expecting massive fan interest, MLS announced Thursday that the opener will be livestreamed for free on Apple TV and aired as it happens on the gargantuan 25,000-square-foot video screen at Times Square in New York.

Messi had been subdued until the 45th minute when he put Inter ahead -- chesting down a long ball into the box and getting a lucky bounce off Crew defender Malte Amundsen before poking home.

Messi, who plays for Major League Soccer club Inter Miami, was left out of Argentina's squad for their World Cup Qualifiers against Chile and Colombia in August due to the injury which he sustained during the Copa America final.