THE LIST OF European Footballer of the Year nominees has been reduced to three with Cristiano Ronaldo, Arjen Robben and Manuel Neuer set to battle it out for the prize before the winner is announced on 28 August in Monaco.

The three have been chosen from a list of 10 announced in July. The seven players who have lost out on the chance of winning the trophy are:  Angel Di Maria, Diego Costa, Luis Suarez, Lionel Messi, Philipp Lahm, James Rodriguez and Thomas Muller.

Ronaldo, the current Ballon d’Or holder, didn’t make as much of an impact in the World Cup as his fellow nominees with his Portugal side crashing out at the group stages. However his 31 goals and nine assists in 30 La Liga matches as well as 17 goals in 11 Champions League matches will probably stand him in good stead to retain the honour.

Arjen Robben impressed in The Netherlands run to the semi-final but received a lot of criticism along the way for alleged simulation on a number of occasions.

Bayern Munich goalkeeper Manuel Neuer added a World Cup medal to his Bundesliga and DFB-Pokal titles last season.

A panel of 54 experts will place their votes on August 28 to determine the winner.

Who do you think should get it?

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