Paris Saint-Germain forward Lionel Messi has reignited his Ballon d'Or rivalry with Cristiano Ronaldo by leaving him off a list of worthy contenders for this year's award. Messi has named a handful of shortlisted stars who he would vote for but - somewhat unsurprisingly - snubbed the Manchester United superstar.
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Ahead of the November ceremony, Messi is currently the favourite to pick up his seventh Ballon d'Or award.
Bayern Munich striker Robert Lewandowski and Chelsea midfielder Jorginho closely follow as the other two frontrunners.
Ronaldo is behind Jorginho's Blues team-mate N'Golo Kante as the fifth favourite, so adding a sixth Ballon d'Or to his collection is unlikely this year.
Since 2016, journalists from around the world have voted for the recipient of the prestigious award, but Messi has given insight into who he would've voted for if he could.
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Messi and Ronaldo's rivalry over the title of 'best player in the world' has stood the test of time.
In the six years they were invited to vote for the Ballon d'Or winner, neither star voted for each other despite their extra-terrestrial numbers for Barcelona and Real Madrid, respectively.
A notable instance was when Ronaldo snubbed Messi in 2012, despite the 34-year-old scoring an incredible 73 goals that year.
Messi then ignored Ronaldo's incredible 2013/14 season, where he netted 51 times and helped Real to another Champions League triumph.
The 2021 field is truly an all-star line-up, and there are no guarantees over who will receive the award.