Twitter Reacts as Lionel Messi Wins His 5th Ballon D'Or

It's official: Lionel Messi is your reigning Ballon d'Or winner. The diminutive Argentinean picked up the prized gong for the fifth time on Monday night, beating out competition from Cristiano Ronaldo and his Barcelona teammate, Neymar. 

"

Messi after his Ballon D'or announcement. (@Barca_A7) pic.twitter.com/o7fzzm2Pad

— The Catalan Giant (@TheCatalanGiant) January 11, 2016"

The majority of football fans were expecting Messi to take the glory, so the news wasn't exactly shocking:

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Lionel Messi has won his 5th Balon D'or! Is there any surprise after he did this to Jerome Boateng https://t.co/VJ6RV6wfIV

— Ultra Footy Skill (@UltraFootySkill) January 11, 2016"

Understandably, there were plenty willing to rub Messi's success in the face of the man who finished in second place:

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Zlatan Ibrahimovic: "Ronaldo is a lucky guy. He always gets first row tickets to see Messi win his awards." pic.twitter.com/zPPIIpXB4y

— Football Funnys (@FootballFunnys) January 11, 2016"

Some Twitter users, meanwhile, stood by C-Ron as their choice:

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Loooooollll french media trolling Ronaldo ffs https://t.co/fFGCnOyJac

— C.C (@ElAficionadofcb) January 11, 2016"

"

#BallondOr  Lionel Messi didn't deserve this award while being 2 months off.. this is why #Ronaldo deserved it pic.twitter.com/5UhDOYtIYv

— Faki AKIN M.D. (@DrFakiAkin) January 11, 2016"

It seemed highly unlikely that Neymar would scoop the prize, but there was plenty of goodwill being expressed towards him:

At the conclusion of the ceremony, the voting data was released:

Some suspected there may have been some tactical voting taking place:

And inevitably, at the point of the announcement, there were far too many Steve Harvey jokes:

"

Rooney: "Neymar top three?" Woodward: "Who do we want the most?" "Muller?" "So who's top three?" "(sigh) Muller" https://t.co/BoV7PpNWNs

— Elijah (@MrScripto) January 11, 2016"

Sigh.

[Twitter]