Although the winner of the next Ballon d'Or will not be announced before January 2017, Barcelona forward Neymar has declared who he feels will be the winner. The Brazilian has picked Barcelona rival Real Madrid’s talisman Cristiano Ronaldo to win his fourth Ballon d'Or after winning the UEFA Champions League and the UEFA Euro 2016.
He has picked Ronaldo over his Barcelona teammates Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez, who finished as the top scorer of La Liga, above Ronaldo. The forward was quoted saying: “Ronaldo won the Champions League and now Euro 2016 as well.” He added: “So I believe he is in a good position. Plus, Ronaldo is a great player. I have no qualms in saying that.”
Ronaldo was an instrumental figure in both the European competitions which his side won. The Real Madrid forward had to settle for the second spot in the race for the Ballon d'Or last year, as former Argentina captain Lionel Messi picked up his fifth Ballon d'Or, having won the treble with Barcelona.
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So, Neymar believes that having won those two trophies gives Ronaldo the edge to win his fourth, having won three already.
It looks as if the award system is somewhat flawed as the winner won’t be decided for the next six months, but the winner has already been declared by fellow players. Recently after the loss in the finals, France forward Antoine Griezmann also claimed that it will be Ronaldo who will win the next Ballon d'Or.
Ronaldo has been in tremendous form as he finished the Champions League as top scorer with 16 goals and also won the silver boot at the 2016 Euro as he scored three goals, with one coming in the crunch semi-final tie against Wales led by his club compatriot Gareth Bale.
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Lionel Messi meanwhile is having the worst time of his life after losing his fourth final with Argentina, having lost at the same stage in the last three competitions that he participated i for his nationn, them being the 2014 World Cup, 2015 Copa America and the 2016 Copa America Centenario.
What’s worse is that this led to an impulsive decision of immediate retirement from international football. To make matters worse for the Argentine, he was recently convicted of three counts of tax evasion, leading to a 21-month prison sentence, although it seems unlikely that he will have to spend time behind bars
