Neymar, the Brazilian superstar footballer, has named the three players whom top his shortlist for this year's Ballon d'Or Award. Neymar feels these three should come in the final.

Whilst the FIFA Best Men's Player Award was contested by Cristiano Ronaldo, Mohamed Salah, Luka Modric (and was eventually picked up by Real Madrid’s Luka Modric), just one of that trio makes it into Neymar’s chosen selection for the more prestigious Ballon D’Or Award - the PSG striker thinks Cristiano Ronaldo (now at Juventus, with Neymar rumoured to be taking his place) should definitely be on the list.

Cristiano Ronaldo recently reached the 31 year old mark and this is an age where players show significant drops of form as they aren’t in their most optimal point of their respective career.

The recently appointed head coach of Real Madrid, Zinedine Zidane is aware that the Portuguese attacker is entering the twilight stages of his career but Zidane praised C.Ronaldo by stating that he can continue playing for a much longer period of time.

The speculation surrounding Cristiano Ronaldo’s future at Real Marid shows no signs of abating anytime soon after it was claimed he is dissatisfied with life at the Bernabeu.

Former Real president Ramon Calderon, who signed Ronaldo for £80million from Manchester United in 2009, says the Ballon d’Or winner is considering his options after a frustrating couple of transfer windows and a poor start to the season that has left Real Madrid 17/10 in the Paddy Power football betting odds to win La Liga.

AC Milan supremo Massimo Allegri believes that in Zlatan Ibrahimovic they have a player who is equal to both Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi.

Whilst Messi and Ronaldo have proven their talent time and again at the highest level - perhaps most notably last season when the two competed for the Primera Liga golden boot award, and outscored all their rivals by over 10 goals each - Ibrahimovic has sometimes flattered to deceive.

Cristiano Ronaldo and Jose Mourinho were both keen to remain upbeat after Real Madrid suffered a potentially damaging defeat to Osasuna on Sunday evening.

Javier Camunas’ second-half winner condemned Real to a loss that sees them now seven points behind Barcelona at the top of La Liga. With their titles hopes suffering a severe setback, Mourinho and Ronaldo both faced the media after the match and attempted to maintain a positive outlook.