Cristiano Ronaldo Handed Ballon d'Or Snub as Lionel Messi Tops Marca Fan Vote

Cristiano Ronaldo may be on course to finish outside the Ballon d'Or's top three for the first time in five years if readers of Spanish newspaper Marca are an accurate guide, after they voted Lionel Messi and his Barcelona comrades as the best in the world.

Votes were cast in a poll by the Madrid-based daily, with Messi coming out on top with 26.8 percent of the ballot, while Neymar and Luis Suarez took second and third with 19.9 and 17.5 percent, respectively.

Frank Augstein/Associated Press

Should the real vote go the same way, it would see Ronaldo fail to make the top three for the first time since 2010, having claimed back-to-back wins in 2013 and 2014, finishing second in the two years prior.

And as fate would have it, Messi happened to top another trio of Barcelona stars in 2010, when Andres Iniesta and Xavi completed a Catalonian clean sweep of the Ballon d'Or that year.

The latter two have been replaced by a new lineup of attacking marvels after Suarez and Neymar—two-thirds of the fabled "MSN" trio—played a huge role in claiming Barca's European and domestic treble last season.

Suarez's seamless transition to Spain since arriving from Liverpool last summer has been especially impressive; OptaJohan has taken note of the Uruguayan as one of the most prolific scorers on the continent this year:

While Barca recovered from a stuttered start to thrive in their first campaign under manager Luis Enrique, Ronaldo was part of a Real Madrid team that failed to clinch a single piece of silverware last season.

It's, of course, worth pointing out the Ballon d'Or isn't a competition to see who won the most trophies; it's a celebration of individual talent first and foremost, but team accomplishments tend to galvanise a player's bid for recognition.

Thibault Camus/Associated Press

In that sense, Messi, Suarez and Neymar were nigh-on impossible to ignore en route to last season's Champions League triumph. But Ronaldo isn't without his own merits, recently overtaking Raul's previous record to be crowned Real Madrid's all-time leading goalscorer.

Messi's former Barcelona team-mate Yaya Toure is also on the Ballon d'Or's 23-man shortlist, but recently told France Football he doesn't expect to compete against Europe's big two in January, per Goal's Joe Wright:

"

While Cristiano Ronaldo has had another exceptional year, I'd always vote for Lionel Messi. Not only because there's a great respect between us from my time at Barca, but also because I think Leo is above the rest. In fact, ideally, with these two monsters there, they should give two Ballons d'Or every year!

It's a pleasure every time. It's a great barometer of the level you've reached. To stay on this list, you have to work really, really hard. It's impossible otherwise, it's the same for Cristiano Ronaldo or Leo Messi. 

"

Ronaldo and Messi have made up the top two Ballon d'Or finishing spots for the past four years in succession, but early signs may suggest this is the year Ronaldo's best merely isn't enough to garner favour.

That being said, the votes haven't been cast just yet, and Los Blancos' talisman still has time on his hands to rake some last-minute attention before Barcelona's "holy trinity" pounces on the podium.