Lionel Messi Trounces Cristiano Ronaldo In Ballon d'Or Poll

On Monday, the 30-man shortlist for this year's Ballon d'Or and of course the award is pretty much nailed on to go to either Lionel Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo - the two have dominated when it comes to the past six winners of the coveted trophy.

Spanish outlet MARCA ran a poll regarding this year's win and are said to have received over 100,000 votes in one day, with Messi leading the way by quite a distance. The Argentine garnered 58% of the votes, compared to his regular rival Ronaldo who received just 26.6% of votes in his favour.

In third place, there's further representation from La Liga in the form of Atletico Madrid's Antoine Griezmann, though the Frenchman only collected a mere 3.24% of the votes.

Of course, the current format of the Ballon d'Or means that votes from a journalist from each country in Europe will ultimately decide the overall winner, as opposed to a public vote.

If that did happen, somehow an Arsenal player would definitely pick up the win.

(h/t 101 Great Goals)

Topics: Lionel Messi, Antoine Griezmann, Ballon d'Or, Cristiano Ronaldo

Josh Lawless

Josh is a sports journalist who specialises in football and wrestling. He has been published by Curzon Ashton FC, Late Tackle, Manchester City FC, The Mirror, Read Man City and Manchester Evening News. He provides coverage of professional wrestling and has interviewed some of the biggest names in the field - including the first UK interview with The Hardy Boyz after their return to WWE. He has never sported a pair of Lonsdale Slip-ons, contrary to reports.

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