The final three for the Ballon d’Or have been confirmed and, in all fairness, it was only ever going to be between two players. Those two players are obviously Real Madrid’s Cristiano Ronaldo and Barcelona’s Lionel Messi, so the inclusion of Andres Iniesta is just a case of making up the numbers.
Andres Iniesta
In fairness to Iniesta, he is the man that keeps the Barcelona machine running and is arguably the best centre midfielder in the world. However, Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo are leagues above anyone else in the world and only really have each other to compete with.
25-year-old Lionel Messi has managed to bag an incredible 82 goals in this calendar year, which is just three goals short of Gerd Mueller’s record in 1972. Messi also scored 50 goals for Barcelona last season, which broke a 60 year old goalscoring record.
Lionel Messi
Meanwhile, Cristiano Ronaldo, who won the award back in 2008, scored an impressive 60 goals in all competitions for Real Madrid last season, as Real Madrid won La Liga. So far this season, Cristiano has already managed to bag himself 19 goals.
It is going to be close between Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi but we tip Messi to win the Ballon d’Or.
Lionel Messi tricks
