Luka Modric has dig at Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi for Ballon d'Or no show

LUKA MODRIC has taken aim at Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo for not attending the Ballon d’Or awards.

Modric picked up the award, making it the first time since 2007 that either Messi or Ronaldo did not win the Ballon d’Or.

Luka Modric picked up the award for the first time in his career

Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo - who had won every award since 2007 - both did not attend the awards ceremony

However, neither Messi or Ronaldo were in attendance to watch Modric break the record, and speaking to Sportske Novosti the Croatian claimed they only value the award when they win it.

Modric said: “I cannot say why someone did not attend – that’s their choice, that is logical, is it not?

"It turns out these choices and trophies only have value when they get them.

“It is not fair to their playing colleagues, or to the voters who have nominated them for the past 10 years – nor for football or supporters."

“But I repeat, everyone behaves the way they think they need to.”

The 33-year-old won a Champion League trophy with Real Madrid this year while he also reached the World Cup final with Croatia in the summer where he won player of the tournament.

Modric cited the Ballon d’Or is awarded to the player who had the best year in football, opposed to the most talented - and that is why he feels piped Messi and Ronaldo to the award.

He said: “Here we are talking about seasonal performance, and it probably means that all the coaches, players, football legends and journalists have voted the same.

“Or are they all mistaken at the same time?

“If we vote on the quality of the player, then the only thing left is to distribute all the trophies for Messi and Ronaldo as long as they are actively playing and to abandon any vote.”