Cristiano Ronaldo leads huge names to snub Ballon d’Or to see Messi’s award

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Cristiano Ronaldo was nowhere to be seen as Lionel Messi picked up an eighth Ballon d'Or – and can you really blame him?

The 38-year-old was among several familiar faces who were not at the Paris ceremony including 2022 winner Karim Benzema, 12th placed Robert Lewandowski and Kevin De Bruyne who ended up finishing fourth.

Messi was handed the award on stage by David Beckham after pushing Erling Haaland into second place and Kylian Mbappe into third with Ronaldo not nominated for the first time since 2003.

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Manchester City Treble winner De Bruyne was the highest ranked name not to make the trip to France with Victor Osimhen next in eighth.

Former winner Luka Modric in 10th as well as Liverpool's Mohamed Salah were no-shows with 19th placed Harry Kane busy preparing for Bayern Munich's DFB Pokal clash against third tier Saarbrucken.

Among the managers not in attendance was City's Pep Guardiola, who couldn't choose between Haaland and Messi when asked for his opinion last week.

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Messi wasn't too bothered by the absences as Inter Miami colleague David Beckham handed him the top award and his three sons joined him on stage.

The eighth victory could well be Messi's final win in the ceremony with Haaland and Mbappe running him close and Jude Bellingham tipped for future stardom.

He said on stage: "I couldn't imagine having the career I've had and everything I've achieved, the fortune I've had to be part of the best team in history.

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"All of them [Ballon d'Or awards] are special for different reasons."

Messi added the eighth golden ball trophy to his wins from 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2015, 2019 and 2021 which all featured his heroics for Barcelona.

Former Manchester United and Real Madrid forward Ronaldo won the award in 2008, 2013, 2014, 2016 and 2017.

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