Ballon d'Or 2017: Cristiano Ronaldo beats Lionel Messi to win fifth award

[Barbara On A Broomstick]

I will take Messi as a player any day but hey ho!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/42269979

Real Madrid forward Cristiano Ronaldo beat Barcelona's Lionel Messi to win the Ballon d'Or award for the fifth time - and the second year in a row.

Victory took the 32-year-old Portugal international level with 30-year-old Argentine Messi, who won the most recent of his five awards in 2015.

Messi's ex-Barcelona team-mate Neymar, now at Paris St-Germain, was third.

Last season, Ronaldo helped Real Madrid win the Champions League and their first La Liga title since 2012.

"This is something I look forward to every year," he said.

"Thanks to my Real Madrid team-mates. And I want to thank the rest of the people who helped me reach this level."

 

[Angela Chilling]

I agree Messi had the better season and would have been my choice too. He's much more of a team player whereas Ronaldo is more of an individual talent. However, every year it seems to be a contest between just Ronaldo and Messi and they are both outstanding players but why can't the panel think more broadly and recognise other players? Personally, I think Luis Suárez of FC Barcelona or Antoine Griezmann of Atletico Madrid should have been given the award this year.