Cristiano Ronaldo eclipses Lionel Messi in one key Ballon d'Or ranking – Van Dijk 12th
Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi have won 11 of the past 12 Ballon d’Or awards between them, but fans are still divided over which player is the greatest.
Barcelona will ‘falter’ if Messi not 'super-human' claims pundit
Lionel Messi picked up his sixth Ballon d’Or in December, with the Barcelona star taking his personal tally beyond that of his great rival Cristiano Ronaldo. The Portuguese ace finished third in last year’s vote, with Liverpool stalwart Virgil van Dijk splitting the pair after the Reds’ Champions League triumph in 2018/19.
Messi enjoyed another blistering year at the Nou Camp, helping Barcelona to yet another La Liga title while the Catalan giants also clinched the Spanish Super Cup.
The Argentine scored 36 goals in 34 league matches and bagged 12 more in 10 Champions League appearances before his side were stunned by Liverpool in the semi-finals.
Overall, Messi hit 56 goals in 60 outings for club and country last season to scoop his first Ballon d’Or since 2015.
But the 32-year-old still finds himself trailing Ronaldo in one key category – with the Juventus superstar comprehensively winning the battle on social media.
Cristiano Ronaldo eclipses Lionel Messi in terms of Instagram hashtags (Image: GETTY)
Ronaldo, who won the Serie A title in his debut season in Turin, has not won the Ballon d’Or since 2017 but is easily the most mentioned player on Instagram – despite his personal hashtag #CR7 not being included in the findings.
Research conducted by LiveFootballTickets.com shows he has racked up over six million mentions, eclipsing Messi despite his rival’s latest triumph.
Messi is second on the overall list, but the Barca star has been hashtagged over five million times fewer than Ronaldo.
Luka Modric won the Balon d’Or in 2018 but missed the 30-man shortlist this time around so is not included in the data.
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Meanwhile, Neymar was also overlooked following a campaign plagued by injuries but the Brazilian has a staggering 131million followers so would have featured highly.
Elsewhere, Van Dijk may have come second in the Ballon d’Or but the Dutchman has made far less of an impact online.
The Liverpool stopper is only 12th on the list, behind attacking team-mates Roberto Firmino, Sadio Mane and fifth-placed Mohamed Salah.
Real Madrid duo Eden Hazard and Karim Benzema complete the top five, but how do the rest of the Ballon d’Or shortlisted players compare on Instagram?
Lionel Messi picked up his sixth Ballon d'Or in December (Image: GETTY)