Real Madrid striker Cristiano Ronaldo says Barcelona star will win the Ballon d’Or again in January.
Ronaldo won the award for the third time in his career last season for his exploits in the 2013-14 season in which he led the club to their 10th Champions League crown. Last campaign, the 30-year-old enjoyed his best season to date, hitting 61 goals for Los Blancos.
The lack of club honours though means he may not secure enough votes to retain the crown this season. Messi was key to Barcelona’s success in the Champions League, La Liga and Copa del Rey.
Speaking on the Jonathan Ross show, Ronaldo stated: “To be honest I think Messi is going to win this year because this kind of trophy, it depends on votes.”
And he added: “You win competitions, you win the Champions League you win the league in terms of individual. I did probably the best season of my career which is good and I was the highest scorer in Europe [but] it’s all about votes, it’s difficult and to be honest I’m not very worried about that because as I said many times, I never thought I’d win three times to be honest.”
He was also asked about his relationship with Messi, and played down claims they were rivals.
“I don’t have rivals, we have a normal relationship. We shared this stage at FIFA for eight years. No one has done that in the past, only us, so it’s good.”
