Juventus star Cristiano Ronaldo has been included on the 30-man shortlist of candidates to win the 2019 Ballon d’Or.
Ronaldo received the 16th Ballon d’Or nomination of his career on Monday evening, which is a record for the award.
However, it was short-lived as Barcelona rival Lionel Messi drew level with the Portuguese once the second batch of candidates were announced.
The No 7 won the Scudetto at the age of 34 last season and ran out as Juve’s top scorer with 28 goals.
Juventus star Cristiano Ronaldo has been included on the 30-man shortlist of candidates to win the 2019 Ballon d’Or.
Ronaldo received the 16th Ballon d’Or nomination of his career on Monday evening, which is a record for the award.
However, it was short-lived as Barcelona rival Lionel Messi drew level with the Portuguese once the second batch of candidates were announced.
The No 7 won the Scudetto at the age of 34 last season and ran out as Juve’s top scorer with 28 goals.
He then captained Portugal to glory at the inaugural UEFA Nations League over the summer, notably bagging a hat-trick against Switzerland in the semi-finals.
The other favourite is Virgil van Dijk, who helped Liverpool win the Champions League in 2018-19 and has already been named UEFA’s Player of the Year.
Ronaldo is joined from Serie A – and the Bianconeri – by Matthijs de Ligt following his run to the Champions League semi-finals with Ajax last term.
Napoli centre-back Kalidou Koulibaly is also included, whereas there are no places for Neymar or last year’s winner Luka Modric.
The 2019 victor will be announced on December 2 at the Theatre du Chatelet in Paris.
2019 Ballon d’Or nominees
Sadio Mane (Liverpool), Sergio Aguero (Manchester City), Frenkie de Jong (Barcelona), Hugo Lloris (Tottenham Hotspur), Dusan Tadic (Ajax), Kylian Mbappe (Paris Saint-Germain), Trent Alexander-Arnold (Liverpool), Donny van de Beek (Ajax), Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (Arsenal), Marc-Andre ter Stegen (Barcelona), Cristiano Ronaldo (Juventus), Alisson (Liverpool), Matthijs de Ligt (Juventus), Karim Benzema (Real Madrid), Georginio Wijinaldum (Liverpool), Virgil van Dijk (Liverpool), Bernardo Silva (Manchester City), Son Heung-min (Tottenham Hotspur), Robert Lewandowski (Bayern Munich), Roberto Firmino (Liverpool), Lionel Messi (Barcelona), Riyad Mahrez, Kevin de Bruyne (Manchester City), Kalidou Koulibaly (Napoli), Antoine Griezmann (Barcelona), Mohamed Salah (Liverpool), Eden Hazard (Real Madrid), Marquinhos (Paris Saint-Germain), Raheem Sterling (Manchester City), Joao Felix (Atletico Madrid)