Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard has slammed Luis Suarez's "incredible" omission from the Ballon d'Or nominations.
The Uruguayan was not included on FIFA's 23-man shortlist for the award when it was announced last week.
Cristiano Ronaldo is the hot favourite to win the prize for successive years, but Gerrard has insisted that former teammate Suarez should be rivalling the Real Madrid star after his 31-goal haul for the Reds last season, and said that his snub was only because of 'political' reasons.
"I can't believe it but that's politics in football isn't it?" he told The Telegraph "He scored 31 goals and was voted the best player in the hardest league in the world.
"So you tell me how he's not on the Ballon d'Or list. Incredible. He should be fighting Cristiano Ronaldo for it. That's a fact."
Suarez left Anfield to join Barcelona in a £75m deal earlier this summer, and made his debut in the El Clasico defeat to Madrid last week, having served his four-month ban for biting at the 2014 World Cup.
