Ronaldo Chooses Players Ahead Of Ballon D’Or 2019

Cristiano Ronaldo doesn’t want Lionel Messi to pick up this year’s Ballon d’Or trophy and would instead prefer it going to one of the Liverpool trio of Sadio Mane, Mohamed Salah or Virgil van Dijk.

Don Balon reports that Juventus star Cristiano Ronaldo realizes Lionel Messi is a shoe-in for the Ballon d’or this year after his incredible goalscoring exploits, but would prefer the award not going to the Barcelona man.

Both Ronaldo and Messi are locked on 5 Ballon d’Or trophies apiece and a win for Messi this season would inch him ahead of the Portuguese superstar with 6.

However, the report claims Ronaldo is hoping that Barcelona’s Champions League exit at the hands of Liverpool and their Copa del Rey final slip up to Valencia has opened the door for other players to be in realistic contention.

However, the report states that he does acknowledge that a strong showing for Messi in the upcoming Copa America for Argentina would swing the tide back in his favour.

Messi ended the season breaching the 50-goal mark while Cristiano Ronado finished with 28 goals from 43 appearances.