Ballon d'Or 2016 Award Live Ceremony

Until then Goodbye!

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It is Shaurya Vineet signing off, have a wonderful night and an even better day tomorrow!

What a night it has been, from the messy announcements by France Football to the huge break for the revelation of the footballers who finished 2nd to 5th. It has been epic having you all with us during this legendary ceremony.

The drama has finally ended. After months of build up and hours of anticipation, we finally have the winner. Cristiano Ronaldo!

And here it the final 17 man list for Ballon d'Or:
At 17 we have - Toni Kroos, Luka Modric and Dimitri Payet.
At 16 there is - Robert Lewandowski.
At 14 there is - Paul Pogba and Arturo Vidal.
At 13 there is - Zlatan Ibrahimovic.
At 12 there is - Rui Patricio.
At 11 there is - Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang.
At 9 there is - Gianluigi Buffon and Pepe.
At 8 there is - Jamie Vardy.
At 7 there is - Riyad Mahrez.
At 6 there is - Gareth Bale.
At 5 there is - Neymar.
At 4 there is - Luis Suarez.
At 3 there is - Antoine Griezmann.
At 2 there is - Lionel Messi.
And the winner of Ballon d'Or 2016 is - Cristiano Ronaldo.

Ronaldo fans will be delighted while Messi fans will be scratching their heads. What if Argentina had won the Copa America?

Ronaldo won the Ballon d'Or with more than twice as much points as second placed Lionel Messi. A landslide victory!!

Cristianoo Ronaldo won Ballon d'Or with 745 points. Lionel Messi came second with 316 points and Antoine Griezmann with 198. Luis Suarez who finished fourth got 91 points.

You have to feel for the 11 players who made the shortlist but failed to receive any votes. Spare a thought for Sergio Ramos who led Madrid from the front en route to La Undecima.

These are the players who didn't finish with any votes to their names:
Sergio Aguero, Kevin de Bruyne, Paulo Dybala, Diego Godin, Gonzalo Higuain, Andres Iniesta, Koke, Hugo Lloris, Thomas Muller, Manuel Neuer, Sergio Ramos.

And it is Lionel Messi who has finished second behind Cristiano Ronaldo in 2016 Ballon d'Or.

It looks more and more ominous that number 2 will be Lionel Messi, unless one of Andres Iniesta or Sergio Ramos pip him to it.

And the Bronze goes to Antoine Griezmann who has finished 3rd.

In case you are just joining us, here is how the rankings have shaped up so far:
At 17 we have - Toni Kroos, Luka Modric and Dimitri Payet.
At 16 there is - Robert Lewandowski.
At 14 there is - Paul Pogba and Arturo Vidal.
At 13 there is - Zlatan Ibrahimovic.
At 12 there is - Rui Patricio.
At 11 there is - Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang.
At 9 there is - Gianluigi Buffon and Pepe.
At 8 there is - Jamie Vardy.
At 7 there is - Riyad Mahrez.
At 6 there is - Gareth Bale.
At 5 there is - Neymar.
At 4 there is - Luis Suarez.
And the winner of Ballon d'Or 2016 is - Cristiano Ronaldo.

Some real contentious decisions have been made tonight. Didn't Sergio Ramos deserve to be on the list ahead of Rui Patricio? Is Manuel Neuer no longer the best goalkeeper in the world?

11 out of these 13 players received no votes. Who are those, take your pick.

Sergio Aguero, Kevin de Bruyne, Paulo Dybala, Diego Godin, Antoine Griezmann, Gonzalo Higuain, Andres Iniesta, Koke, Hugo Lloris, Lionel Messi, Thomas Muller, Manuel Neuer, Sergio Ramos,

Are Griezmann and Messi going to finish at 3 and 2 respectively? Or does France Football have another surprise for us?

And the next name revealed by France Football is - Luis Suarez, who finishes at 4th position.

Robert Lewandowski is not chuffed about the rankings.

@francefootball 😂😂😂😂
— Robert Lewandowski (@lewy_official) December 12, 2016

Ronaldo has become the European player with the most number of Ballon d'Ors moving past Michel Platini and Johan Cruyff and Marco van Basten - who had won 3 apiece.

Neymar had finished 3rd last year. Who will finish between 4 and 2?

And it is Neymar who has finished 5th in the list.

What will be even more interesting will be to note who wins FIFA Men's Best Player award. Will Ronaldo complete a clean sweep or will Lionel Messi get his due.

You have to feel for the players who have missed out from the list. There were some incredible performances but football - as we all know - can be cruel at times.

To put things into perspective, either Cristiano Ronaldo or Lionel Messi have won the last 9 Ballon d'Ors. What a generation we live in. Incredible!!

We'll break the nos. 5-2 as soon as they are out. Pinky Promise

We are inching closer towards the announcement of the four other players who have made it to the top 5 and also the names of the 11 players who failed to win any tweets.

The pun there was definitely intended, or was it too soon?

This has been a Messy award ceremony by France Football and I hope they have learnt their lesson.

In case you are just joining us, here is how it all transpired:
At 17 we have - Toni Kroos, Luka Modric and Dimitri Payet.
At 16 there is - Robert Lewandowski.
At 14 there is - Paul Pogba and Arturo Vidal.
At 13 there is - Zlatan Ibrahimovic.
At 12 there is - Rui Patricio.
At 11 there is - Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang.
At 9 there is - Gianluigi Buffon and Pepe.
At 8 there is - Jamie Vardy.
At 7 there is - Riyad Mahrez.
At 6 there is - Gareth Bale.
And the winner of Ballon d'Or 2016 is - Cristiano Ronaldo.

Where do you think Messi finished? Did he even make it into the top 5?

The names of the players ranked between 2 and 5 will be revealed shortly.

Here are Cristiano Ronaldo's first words after winning his 4th Ballon d'Or: "If Portugal and Real Madrid didn't win, I wouldn't have won this."

Although, one has to feel for Luis Suarez and Antoine Griezmann. They both were incredible in their own right but just couldn't trump the Real Madrid superstar.