Ballon d'Or 2015: Messi, Neymar and Ronaldo named as three finalists
Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo and Neymar have been named as the three finalists for this year's Ballon d'OR.
Real Madrid's Ronaldo has won the award for the last two years, but he is expected to have the title taken off him by Messi at January's gala in Zurich.
The Barcelona star has already won the award four times (2009, 2010, 2011, 2012), while Ronaldo has won it on three occasions (2008, 2013, 2014).
Messi has so far scored 44 goals in 2015 - despite being injured for just short of two months.
On top of that, he played a huge part as Barcelona won the treble last season - the Champions League, La Liga and the Copa del Rey.
Highlights included his two goals against Bayern Munich in the Champions League semi-final and his goal against Athletic Club in the Copa del Rey final.
He also scored twice as Barça won the European Super Cup earlier this year.
However, he was part of an Argentina side that fell to Chile in the Copa America final as his wait for an international trophy dragged on.
Messi and Ronaldo are joined in the top three by arguably the world's most in form player at the moment: Neymar.
The Brazilian has contributed 41 goals to Barça's cause across the calendar year and is the top scored in La Liga during the current campaign with 14.
There is a growing case to be made that he - not Cristiano Ronaldo - is the second best player on the planet after Messi.
However, there was no place for Luis Suarez, the final member of the Catalan side's deadly front three among the finalists - despite Neymar's call for all three Barça forwards to be included.
Managers and captains of every national team vote for the award along with a journalist from each country.
The winner will be revealed in Switzerland on January 11.
