Cristiano Ronaldo won the 2016 Ballon d'Or but remains one short of Lionel Messi's tally. Can he still equal or overtake his rival?
Click through the gallery above to see all of Ronaldo and Messi's Ballon d'Or victory moments.
The Portuguese and the Argentine began their nine-year domination of the top accolade back in 2008, when Ronaldo won the Ballon d'Or and FIFA World Footballer of the Year award – today known as the FIFA Best Men's Player of the Year award.
But after his initial triumph as a Manchester United player, he had to watch Messi rack up four consecutive awards between 2009 and 2012.
First, the Argentine won the 2009 Ballon d'Or and FIFA World Footballer of the Year award, before adding three successive FIFA Ballons d'Or after the world football body collaborated with France Football – the original inventors of the Ballon d'Or – from 2010.
By the end of 2012, Messi was leading their internal Ballon d'Or ranking four to one, and Ronaldo seemed stuck behind his rival.
However, the 31-year-old has now lifted three of the past four editions of the award, winning the FIFA Ballon d'Or in 2013, 2014 and 2016, while Messi could only beat him last year.
Thanks to this glorious comeback, Ronaldo has cut his deficit to just one, and the overall ranking now stands at five to four in favour of the Argentine.
Ronaldo is three years older than his counterpart and is nearing the latter stages of his career, but surely has the ambition to at least match Messi's Ballon d'Or tally.
This season so far, he has netted 12 goals and assisted another six strikes in 17 games, while Messi has scored 22 times and set up another seven strikes in just 19 appearances.
Again, the Portuguese seems behind when looking at the stats, but Real lead the La Liga table, six points ahead of FC Barcelona.
In addition, they have already lifted the UEFA Super Cup and have a chance to add the FIFA Club World Cup to their trophy cabinet in next week.
Read: Final Ballon d'Or Ranking Revealed
Zinedine Zidane's side are unbeaten in their past 35 games – a new club record – and if they continue this fine form until the end of the season, Ronaldo would surely have a strong claim to add another Golden Ball to his collection.
Do you think Ronaldo can finish his career with more Ballons d'Or than Messi? Have your say in the comments section below.
