Ronaldo pointedly refused to vote for Messi, plumping instead for Sergio Ramos, Bale and Karim Benzema, who are all employed by Real. Messi similarly snubbed Ronaldo, choosing Ángel Di María, who plays alongside him for Argentina, ahead of Andrés Iniesta, his team-mate at Barcelona, and Mascherano, who plays with him for both club and country.
Though Ronaldo’s victory demonstrated that poor performances at last year’s World Cup could be easily forgotten, clearly the voters’ forgiveness would only stretch so far: Luis Suárez, whose brilliant displays for Liverpool made him the outstanding player of the 2013-14 Premier League season and earned a £75m summer transfer to Barça,