CRISTIANO WINS GAME OF THRONE
CRISTIANO RONALDO and Lionel Messi showed again there is no love lost between them by refusing to pick one another in the battle to be crowned the world’s best player. As captains of their countries Ronaldo and Messi, along with their national managers, could vote for the top three players of the past year, but neither superstar was willing to offer a nod of appreciation towards the other. Ronaldo won the accolade of FIFA’s finest, with Messi second, after a poll of players, managers and journalists. Rather than salute Messi, who has scored 50 goals in 2017, the Portuguese put his mark against the names of team-mates Luka Modric, Sergio Ramos, and Marcelo. Messi, meanwhile, ignored Ronaldo’s contributions in Real’s La Liga and Champions League double, instead choosing solely from Barcelona. He opted for Luis Suarez, Andres Iniesta and Neymar, now of Paris Saint-Germain. With 43.16 per cent of the vote, Ronaldo was the runaway winner having scored Champions League hat-tricks against Bayern Munich and Atletico Madrid, and a brace in the final against Juventus. Messi received 19.25 per cent of the vote and Neymar 6.97 per cent. England boss Gareth Southgate did not value Messi highly enough for his top three. He picked Ronaldo, Modric and Toni Kroos. Southgate has not yet named his permanent captain but Jordan Henderson took charge of voting, picking Ronaldo, Messi and former Liverpool team-mate Suarez.