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Messi, Ronaldo, Neymar named finalists for 2015 FIFA Ballon d'Or

Reuters

And then there were three.

The finalists for the 2015 FIFA Ballon d'Or were revealed on Monday, with Barcelona superstar and first-time nominee Neymar joining perennial contenders Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo as the men vying for football's most prestigious individual honour.

(Courtesy: FIFA)

Fitting, that roughly a week after El Clasico brought to football world to a standstill for 90 minutes, Barcelona and Real Madrid have been recognized once again for their superiority.

While the Portuguese and Brazilian megastars are worthy adversaries, Messi, the magical Argentine who has scored 48 goals in 2015 - despite missing two months with a knee injury - is the heavy favourite to capture the award for a fifth time.

Ronaldo, who has taken home the hardware the last two years, admitted as much earlier this month.

"To be honest I think Messi is going to win this year because this kind of trophy, it depends on votes," the 30-year-old proclaimed.

"You win competitions, you win the Champions League you win the league in terms of individual. I did probably the best season of my career which is good and I was the highest scorer in Europe (but) it's all about votes. It is difficult and to be honest I am not very worried about that because as I said many times, I never thought I would win three times to be honest."

In addition to his outrageous scoring accolades, Messi, who has also been nominated for the 2015 Puskas Award, led the Blaugrana to a treble last season, as the Catalan club hoisted the La Liga, Champions League, and Copa del Rey titles.

Related: Lionel Messi, Alessandro Florenzi highlight finalists for Puskas Award

Neymar too played an essential role in those triumphs - along with Luis Suarez - and said after the weekend victory over Real Sociedad that he isn't overly concerned with capturing the individual prize.

"I have never played football to be the best player in the world, or to win the Ballon d’Or.

"I've always just played with the idea of continually getting better, to always surpass my goals, to always be better, play better, train better. To be the best in the world is the direct result of all of this work. If today I am being spoken of in such terms, it is a clear sign that what I am doing is working."

The winner will be revealed at FIFA's annual gala in Zurich on Jan. 11.

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