Messi, Ronaldo Snub Each Other

Barcelona’s and Argentine skipper Lionel Messi was yesterday, January 11, named the 2015 FIFA Ballon D’or winner ahead of Real Madrid’s Cristiano Ronaldo and teammate Neymar Junior.

 
Both Lionel Messi and his Portugal counterpart Cristiano Ronaldo did not vote for each other during the 2015 FIFA Ballon d’Or.
Surprisingly both Lionel Messi and his Portugal counterpart Cristiano Ronaldo did not vote for each other
during the 2015 FIFA Ballon d’Or.

While Messi, who eventually emerged victorious with 41.33% of the votes, voted his Barcelona team-mate Luis Suarez, ahead of Neymar and Andres Iniesta, Ronaldo, who had to settle for 27.76% of the votes, picked three team-mates as well, going with Karim Benzema ahead of James Rodriguez and Gareth Bale.

Others revealed votes show that Argentina coach Gerardo Martino named Messi, Sergio Aguero and Javier Mascherano as his top three, while Portugal boss Fernando Santos voted for Ronaldo, Messi and Neymar.

2^nd Runner up Neymar, who completed the podium with 7.86% of the votes, voted Messi, ahead of Suarez and Ivan Rakitic.

While Germany captain Bastian Schweinsteiger left out both Messi and Ronaldo from this top three, going with Manuel Neuer, Thomas Muller and Neymar instead.

Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Arjen Robben both snubbed the Madrid star as well, naming the trio of Messi, Neymar and Suarez instead as England skipper Wayne Rooney gave Messi his vote, ahead of Muller and Ronaldo.

Messi, who ahead of the FIFA ballon D’or ceremony was voted by fans as their favorite to win the award, won a record fifth world player of the year award.
Messi won five trophies with Barcelona in an excellent year. He led Barcelona to the La Liga, Copa Del Rey, UEFA Super Cup and the Club World Cup.