Cristiano Ronaldo has claimed his fifth Ballon d'Or awards in Paris equalling Lionel Messi's record of five Ballon d'Or awards.

The Real Madrid superstar helped the Spanish giants to a record 12th Champions League trophy in June, netting hat-tricks against Bayern Munich in the quarter-final and Atletico in the Semi-finals, he also scored a double in their 4-1 victory against Juventus in the final.

Lionel Messi finished second despite leading the Portuguese captain in goals scored in the Calendar year, Messi has scored 52 goals, while Ronaldo is on 49 goals.

"I feel happy, it's a great moment in my career, this is something I look forward to every year. Last year we had an amazing season in the Champions League and La Liga." said Ronaldo

"I have to thank my team-mates, Real Madrid and the rest of the people who helped me to be in great shape throughout the season."

The most expensive player in the World, Neymar, finished third for the second time in three years. The PSG star would hope to win it in 2018 by leading PSG and Brazil to Champions League and World Cup glory respectively.


Ballon d'Or 2017 final rankings

1 Cristiano Ronaldo
2 Lionel Messi
3 Neymar
4 Gianluigi Buffon
5 Luka Modric
6 Sergio Ramos
7 Kylian Mbappe
8 N'Golo Kante
9 Robert Lewandowski
10 Harry Kane
11 Edinson Cavani
12 Isco
13 Luis Suarez
14 Kevin De Bruyne
15 Paulo Dybala
16 Marcelo
17 Toni Kroos
18 Antoine Griezmann
19 Eden Hazard
20 David De Gea
21 Leonardo Bonucci and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang
23 Sadio Mane
24 Radamel Falcao
25 Karim Benzema
26 Jan Oblak
27 Mats Hummels
28 Edin Dzeko
29 Philippe Coutinho and Dries Mertens