The Ballon D'Or breakdown of how many votes each player garnered has been leaked by El Mundo Deportivo.
We are not going to turn this into debate as to who is better between Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi: few debates are more soporific than the constant comparison between both players. Instead, we present the voting details per the above publication, which shows an enormous winning margin for Ronaldo.
The Ballon D'Or breakdown of exactly who voted for whom has yet to be released, although England's Henry Winter revealed he did put Ronaldo in first place, with Messi second and Antoine Griezmann in third. This mirrored the overall voting, with Ronaldo winning his fourth Ballon D'Or, ahead of Mesi in second and Griezmann in third. Luis Suarez was fourth, ahead of Neymar in fifth.
While Ronaldo was widely expected to win, the size of the winning margin is somewhat surprising: it was huge.
Per Mundo Deportivo, Ronaldo received 745 points, with Messi a distant second with 316 points: fully 429 points clear of his rival. Griezmann garnered 198 votes.
Ronaldo may be slightly past his peak at the age of 31, but nonetheless, he had a sensational year: European glory with club and country, and has scored 48 goals in 52 games in 2016.
Suarez earned 91 points, with Neymar slightly further behind on 68 points. Gareth Bale picked up 60 points. Riyad Mahrez was the highest-placed Premier League player with 20 points, while Jamie Vardy (!) received eleven points.
A number of players nominated didn't receive a single vote: Hugo Lloris, Sergio Aguero and Kevin De Bruyne were among those who ended up with zero, or eleven fewer than Jamie Vardy, if we want to look at it like that.
Robert Lewandowski got three votes, and he was mightily unimpressed:
@francefootball 😂😂😂😂
— Robert Lewandowski (@lewy_official) December 12, 2016
Here's the full Ballon D'Or breakdown.
Ballon D'Or Breakdown
1. Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid) 745 votes
2. Lionel Messi (FC Barcelona) 316
3. Antoine Griezmann (Atlético Madrid) 198
4. Luis Suarez (FC Barcelona) 91
5. Neymar (FC Barcelona) 68
6. Gareth Bale (Real Madrid) 60
7. Riyad Mahrez (Leicester) 20
8. Jamie Vardy (Leicester) 11
9/10. Gianluigi Buffon (Juventus) and Pepe (Real Madrid) 8
11. Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (Borussia Dortmund) 7
12. Rui Patricio (Sporting CP) 6
13. Zlatan Ibrahimovic (Manchester United) 5
14/15. Paul Pogba (Manchester United) and Arturo Vidal (Bayern Munich) 4
16. Robert Lewandowski (Bayern Munich) 3
17. Toni Kroos (Real Madrid/, Luka Modric (Real Madrid) and Dimitri Payet (West Ham) 1
No votes: Agüero, De Bruyne, Dybala, Godin, Higuain, Iniesta, Koke, Lloris, Müller, Neuer, Sergio Ramos.
See Also: Paul Kimmage Savages 'Complete Joke' RTÉ Sportsperson Of The Year Award
