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Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi, And Neymar Make It To Ballon d’Or Shortlist

On Jan. 11, 2016 in Switzerland, the FIFA Ballon d’Or Gala will take place, naming this year’s victor.

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The Brazil captain expects Messi to win the Ballon d’Or and feels Suarez should have been included to make it a clean sweep of Barcelona nominations.

“Ney has the limit he wants”, said full- back Alves, 32, who sees Neymar as a younger brother. He is part of a formidable front line that also includes Messi and Uruguayan Luis Suarez.

Messi enjoyed another victory over his old rival Ronaldo after he was voted the top striker in the Spanish league last season.

Neymar is expected by various people to be one of the successors to win this award once Messi and Ronaldo are out of consideration.

Ronaldo, who overtook Raul to become Real Madrid’s all-time top goal scorer, has won the most prestigious individual accolade in football for the past two years.

“It is a source of pride for me to receive this award [Best Player] ahead of so many important players in the league, I’m very happy”, said Messi.

“I’d wish to dedicate this award to my son, Thiago”.

Ronaldo has won the award three times – twice in the past two years – but is unlikely to win for a third straight year after ending the season without a trophy.

“Luis deserved it, but Cristiano also did well – we’ll have a good time [at the Federation Internationale de Football Association gala]”.

Barca bosses are determined to keep Neymar and are expected to hold contract talks with him next year.

Ronaldo was named the Fans’ Five-Star Player after supporters voted for their favourite player on mahou.es following each matchday last season.

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Real Madrid’s Sergio Ramos and James Rodriguez claimed the best defender and midfielder prize respectively, while Valencia midfielder Sofiane Feghouli was named the best African player of the 2014/15 season.

Why Lionel Messi deserves to beat Cristiano Ronaldo to win the Ballon d’Or