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ESPN FC's Craig Burley says World Player of the Year will come down to Ronaldo and Messi, regardless of other nominees.
The three-man shortlist for the 2015 FIFA Ballon d'Or has been announced with Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo alongside Neymar.
While Messi is likely to walk away with the prize, Ronaldo's place in the final three is more on reputation that anything he's achieved, and he may even lose out to Neymar in the final vote. In truth, Luis Suarez probably deserves a place on the podium more.
Here ESPN FC looks at the three players in with a chance of being named "best in the world," as well as three of those who didn't make it.
Lionel Messi (Barcelona and Argentina)
Back to his very best and possibly beyond, and back as favourite for the Ballon d'Or after two years of his great rival Cristiano Ronaldo winning it.
Despite spending part of this season injured, the level of Messi's performance throughout the year means he deserves a record fifth victory more than on any of his previous occasions.
That is quite a statement, given the level he reached between 2008 and 2012, but then 2014-15 really was quite a season. It wasn't just about his 58 goals in 57 games -- scoring goals has been a main part of his success from 2010 to 2013 -- but more that he scored at such a remarkable rate while restoring so much else to his game.
Messi moved into a deeper role on the pitch for much of this season, but he took his game forward. Back in the best physical condition of his career, too -- and after losing more than 7 kilograms of weight -- he has dictated play, almost functioning as a Xavi-style midfielder. Indeed, there is an argument he is the best passer in the world as well as the best player in the world.
Having Luis Suarez and Neymar around him certainly helps, but Messi has raised their levels too. The Argentine didn't score in the Champions League final, but it was his game-breaking run that brought Suarez's decisive goal in the final against Juventus, while his defining moment came as he single-handedly put Bayern to the sword in the semifinals.
Almost a year on from the failed 2014 World Cup final, he made up for a miss in that match against Manuel Neuer by twice embarrassing the Germany keeper in different ways while leaving Jerome Boateng on the ground. It was perfection. It could have been the perfect year, too, had Gonzalo Higuain scored an easy chance set up by Messi in the 90th minute of the Copa America final. That wasn't to be as Chile sealed a 4-1 win on penalties. This wasn't the complete year for Messi, but he is the complete player.
VERDICT: Winner
Neymar (Barcelona and Brazil)
In the second half of yet another sensational team performance from Barcelona in a 6-1 win against Roma last week, Neymar showed how far he has come. The Brazilian leapt into the air, wrapped his right leg around his left and magically took the ball down in flight. This was not just decoration; it was the self-expression of player performing with full confidence, a player who has taken on new responsibility at his club and is reaping the rewards.
Neymar and Luis Suarez (who should also be on this podium) very quickly dispelled any concerns over Messi's injury at Barcelona. In any other side, a player of Neymar's calibre would very obviously be the main player; at the Camp Nou he has to take his chances where they come. But he has risen to the challenge.
Messi and Neymar bring out the best in each other, as we've seen with so many key goals -- a total of 39 in 51 in their Treble-winning season. Yet if there were to be one minor quibble it is that his most eye-catching goals were not true clinchers: the third in a 3-0 win over Bayern in the Champions League semifinal and the third in a 3-1 win over Juventus in the final itself.
His immature red card in the Copa America for Brazil against Colombia, which put him out of the rest of the tournament and cost his team, suggests he is not quite the finished article. But at 23 he has plenty of time to become so. He won't win it this year, but 2015 shows it is only a matter of time before he does.
VERDICT: Second place
Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid and Portugal)
The current holder is a man under pressure after scoring a scarcely believable 61 goals in 54 games last season. His incredible scoring rate -- 17 in 23 so far this season -- is the main reason he has amassed so many votes to make the final shortlist, but he's unlikely to clinch another prize. The reality is that -- not for the first time -- all those goals didn't mean that much.
Ronaldo didn't win any medals and disappeared when his side really needed him in the Champions League semifinal defeat against Juventus. The Portuguese has done his usual sensational job, but the problem for him is that both he and Messi have made it about so much more doing your job. It is about translating performance into actual success.
That didn't happen with Ronaldo this year. And that is also why, given the other candidates who didn't make the podium, it's difficult not to say he's there on reputation as much as his goals.
VERDICT: Third place
WHO MISSED OUT?
Luis Suarez: The match-winning scorer in the season's decisive Clasico and the scorer of the decisive goal in the Champions League final itself. Given the devastating dominance of some the Uruguayan's displays, it's difficult to think what else he could have done to be on the podium, other than be named "Cristiano Ronaldo."
Robert Lewandowski: A year in which the Bayern striker marked himself out as perhaps the best pure centre-forward in the world, smashing records for goals-per-minute and also ending up as the top scorer in Euro 2016 qualification to ensure automatic qualification for Poland. The latter is not to be sniffed at, given the most that any such star in a moderate international team can do is lift them well above their level.
Arturo Vidal: A dominant force in Juventus' surge to the Champions League final for the first time in a decade, and the key player in Chile's Copa America win, even if that was undercut by his arrest on drunken driving charges. The European medal was the only one he missed out on, as this was almost a clean sweep for the midfielder.
While Messi is likely to walk away with the prize, Ronaldo's place in the final three is more on reputation that anything he's achieved, and he may even lose out to Neymar in the final vote. In truth, Luis Suarez probably deserves a place on the podium more.
Here ESPN FC looks at the three players in with a chance of being named "best in the world," as well as three of those who didn't make it.
Lionel Messi (Barcelona and Argentina)
Back to his very best and possibly beyond, and back as favourite for the Ballon d'Or after two years of his great rival Cristiano Ronaldo winning it.
Despite spending part of this season injured, the level of Messi's performance throughout the year means he deserves a record fifth victory more than on any of his previous occasions.
That is quite a statement, given the level he reached between 2008 and 2012, but then 2014-15 really was quite a season. It wasn't just about his 58 goals in 57 games -- scoring goals has been a main part of his success from 2010 to 2013 -- but more that he scored at such a remarkable rate while restoring so much else to his game.
Messi moved into a deeper role on the pitch for much of this season, but he took his game forward. Back in the best physical condition of his career, too -- and after losing more than 7 kilograms of weight -- he has dictated play, almost functioning as a Xavi-style midfielder. Indeed, there is an argument he is the best passer in the world as well as the best player in the world.
Having Luis Suarez and Neymar around him certainly helps, but Messi has raised their levels too. The Argentine didn't score in the Champions League final, but it was his game-breaking run that brought Suarez's decisive goal in the final against Juventus, while his defining moment came as he single-handedly put Bayern to the sword in the semifinals.
Almost a year on from the failed 2014 World Cup final, he made up for a miss in that match against Manuel Neuer by twice embarrassing the Germany keeper in different ways while leaving Jerome Boateng on the ground. It was perfection. It could have been the perfect year, too, had Gonzalo Higuain scored an easy chance set up by Messi in the 90th minute of the Copa America final. That wasn't to be as Chile sealed a 4-1 win on penalties. This wasn't the complete year for Messi, but he is the complete player.
VERDICT: Winner
Neymar (Barcelona and Brazil)
In the second half of yet another sensational team performance from Barcelona in a 6-1 win against Roma last week, Neymar showed how far he has come. The Brazilian leapt into the air, wrapped his right leg around his left and magically took the ball down in flight. This was not just decoration; it was the self-expression of player performing with full confidence, a player who has taken on new responsibility at his club and is reaping the rewards.
Neymar and Luis Suarez (who should also be on this podium) very quickly dispelled any concerns over Messi's injury at Barcelona. In any other side, a player of Neymar's calibre would very obviously be the main player; at the Camp Nou he has to take his chances where they come. But he has risen to the challenge.
Messi and Neymar bring out the best in each other, as we've seen with so many key goals -- a total of 39 in 51 in their Treble-winning season. Yet if there were to be one minor quibble it is that his most eye-catching goals were not true clinchers: the third in a 3-0 win over Bayern in the Champions League semifinal and the third in a 3-1 win over Juventus in the final itself.
His immature red card in the Copa America for Brazil against Colombia, which put him out of the rest of the tournament and cost his team, suggests he is not quite the finished article. But at 23 he has plenty of time to become so. He won't win it this year, but 2015 shows it is only a matter of time before he does.
VERDICT: Second place
Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid and Portugal)
The current holder is a man under pressure after scoring a scarcely believable 61 goals in 54 games last season. His incredible scoring rate -- 17 in 23 so far this season -- is the main reason he has amassed so many votes to make the final shortlist, but he's unlikely to clinch another prize. The reality is that -- not for the first time -- all those goals didn't mean that much.
Ronaldo didn't win any medals and disappeared when his side really needed him in the Champions League semifinal defeat against Juventus. The Portuguese has done his usual sensational job, but the problem for him is that both he and Messi have made it about so much more doing your job. It is about translating performance into actual success.
That didn't happen with Ronaldo this year. And that is also why, given the other candidates who didn't make the podium, it's difficult not to say he's there on reputation as much as his goals.
VERDICT: Third place
WHO MISSED OUT?
Luis Suarez: The match-winning scorer in the season's decisive Clasico and the scorer of the decisive goal in the Champions League final itself. Given the devastating dominance of some the Uruguayan's displays, it's difficult to think what else he could have done to be on the podium, other than be named "Cristiano Ronaldo."
Robert Lewandowski: A year in which the Bayern striker marked himself out as perhaps the best pure centre-forward in the world, smashing records for goals-per-minute and also ending up as the top scorer in Euro 2016 qualification to ensure automatic qualification for Poland. The latter is not to be sniffed at, given the most that any such star in a moderate international team can do is lift them well above their level.
Arturo Vidal: A dominant force in Juventus' surge to the Champions League final for the first time in a decade, and the key player in Chile's Copa America win, even if that was undercut by his arrest on drunken driving charges. The European medal was the only one he missed out on, as this was almost a clean sweep for the midfielder.
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