5 reasons why Lionel Messi deserved the 2017 Ballon d'Or over Cristiano Ronaldo

#2 More assists

To go from MSN to this...

Even in his best, most productive seasons in La Liga, Cristiano Ronaldo has never out-assisted Lionel Messi. Here’s the proof:

2009/10: Messi = 12, Ronaldo = 8

2010/11: Messi = 29, Ronaldo = 17

2011/12: Messi = 33, Ronaldo = 16

2012/13: Messi = 18, Ronaldo = 15

2013/14: Messi = 16, Ronaldo = 14

2014/15: Messi = 32, Ronaldo = 22

2015/16: Messi = 27, Ronaldo = 17

2016/17: Messi = 19, Ronaldo = 13

The simple fact is that no one would argue that Lionel Messi is the more selfish player of the pair, while the reverse has plenty of justification. However, that does Cristiano Ronaldo a bit of an injustice, since the Portuguese star has been far more altruistic in 2017.

For the calendar year of 2017, Leo Messi has 14 assists, while Cristiano Ronaldo has 13 assists. What's interesting though, is that Messi has made all off his 14 assists while wearing the Blaugrana shirt, while 4 of Ronaldo's 13 assists have come for Portugal.

Glean from that what you will, but bear in mind that Lionel Messi ended the calendar year with Dario Benedetto as the striker for the Albiceleste.

Despite the fact that Leo Messi has had to deal with the shadow of Luis Suarez and Paco Alcacer leading the line for Barcelona, it remains impressive that he has managed to rack up 14 assists - with Neymar also leaving midway through 2017.