People Are Pointing Out What Cristiano Ronaldo Did When He Won Fifth Ballon d'Or vs. Lionel Messi

On Thursday evening, Cristiano Ronaldo lifted the Ballon d'Or trophy for the fifth time in his career and unsurprisingly, the Messi vs Ronaldo debate was stronger than ever.

The 32-year old first claimed the prestigious individual accolade in 2008 and went on to win it a further three times, in 2013, 2014 and 2016 respectively, but this year's was arguably his biggest and best to date.

Barcelona forward Lionel Messi has also lifted five Ballon d'Or awards in his career, and because the pair are now level in terms of trophies won, people are comparing even the minor details of their time in football.

When Messi won the Ballon d'Or in 2016 with 41.33% of the vote, his presentation at the Nou Camp was typically low key.

The 30-year-old got his teammates involved and that was that. He and his Barcelona teammates got on with their business.

Messi

Messi

Rather predictably, people have compared Messi's fifth Ballon d'Or presentation with Cristiano Ronaldo's.

Ronaldo lifted his award before Real Madrid's dominant victory over Sevilla in the league, showing his prize to the adoring Bernabeu crowd.

Let's settle this argument once and for all. Who is the better player? Cristiano Ronaldo or Lionel Messi?

To be honest, I'm just glad that I'm living in an age when we can watch these two marvelous players.

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

Jack Kenmare

Jack Kenmare is a writer at SPORTbible. He's interviewed some of the biggest names in sport, including Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Pele, Carles Puyol and Tim Henman. He dabbles in all things sport but football is his biggest passion. He was once hit in the head by a wayward strike from Nicky Butt and lived to tell the tale.

@jackkenmare_