Ballon d’Or 2015: Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo and Neymar shortlisted for prize

The Barcelona pair Lionel Messi and Neymar will be up against Real Madrid’s Cristiano Ronaldo in the vote to be named the Ballon d’Or 2015 winner.

Ronaldo has won the world’s top player award for the last two years after ending Messi’s four-year winning streak, while Neymar makes the shortlist for the first time. The winner will be announced at a gala in Zurich on 11 January when a series of other awards are handed out.

Messi is the odds-on favourite to win his fifth Ballon d’Or and Ronaldo feels there is no reason to expect an upset. “To be honest I think Messi is going to win this year because this kind of trophy, it depends on votes,” the Portugal international said earlier this month. “You win competitions, you win the Champions League you win the league in terms of individual. I did probably the best season of my career which is good and I was the highest scorer in Europe [but] it’s all about votes. It is difficult and to be honest I am not very worried about that because as I said many times, I never thought I would win three times to be honest.”

Neymar scored twice as Barcelona beat Real Sociedad on Saturday, and afterwards spoke of his pride at being included among the contenders. “I have never played football to be the best player in the world, or to win the Ballon d’Or,” said the Brazil forward. “I’ve always just played with the idea of continually getting better, to always surpass my goals, to always be better, play better, train better. To be the best in the world is the direct result of all of this work. If today I am being spoken of in such terms, it is a clear sign that what I am doing is working.”

The men’s world coach of the year shortlist features Chile’s Copa América winner Jorge Sampaoli, alongside Bayern Munich’s Pep Guardiola and Barcelona’s Luis Enrique.

The women’s world player of the year shortlist is headed by the American World Cup winner Carli Lloyd, Aya Miyama (Japan) and Celia Sasic (Germany). England’s Mark Sampson makes the women’s football coach of the year shortlist, alongside Jill Ellis (US) and Norio Sasak (Japan).

Three finalists for the Puskás Award have also been announced, with Fleetwood Town’s David Ball missing out. The shortlist is: Alessandro Florenzi for Roma against Barcelona in September, Wendell Lira for Atlético GO v Goianesia in March, and Messi for Barça v Athletic Bilbao in May’s Copa del Rey final.

Cristiano Ronaldo says Barcelona move not off limits: 'Everything is open, all leagues'

Portugal star, 30, says it would be ‘complicated’ to play for Barcelona or Man Utd in the future but admits ‘there are no certainties in football’

Ronaldo celebrates another goal in Real Madrid’s 8-0 defeat of Malmo on Tuesday. Photograph: Denis Doyle/Getty Images

Cristiano Ronaldo is really serious about keeping his options open for the future. Not even Barcelona or Manchester United’s rivals in England are off limits.

Ronaldo told the Associated Press on Thursday that he knows it would be “very complicated” to play for these clubs, but it’s something that the Real Madrid star doesn’t rule out either.

He said nothing is certain in soccer, so he will not close doors to any leagues or teams, not even Madrid’s biggest rival.

“It’s a little more difficult, but …,” he said, with a long pause, not dismissing the possibility.

“There are things that you kind of already have an idea, that to play one day forBarcelona would be almost impossible, or to play for another English club other than Manchester, it’s very complicated,” he said. “But that’s not 100% guaranteed. As I said before, there are no certainties in football.”

In his interview with the AP, the Portugal forward made it clear that when it’s time to decide about his future, he will consider all options on the table.

“Everything is open, all leagues,” he said. “I may end my career here with Real Madrid. I’m just being honest. I don’t know what’s going to happen tomorrow. If I was 75% certain, I would say so, it wouldn’t be a problem. But I have no idea.”

Speaking before the launch of his new product with nutrition partner Herbalife, Ronaldo said he may even decide to be somewhere else other than Europe, and that it’s not impossible for him to be playing in the United States’ Major League Soccer.

“Right now I don’t see myself playing in the American league, but that’s right now,” he said. “In two or three years I may think differently.”

He said that in the future he may be at a stage of his life in which he might prefer playing in the US, instead of the more traditional European leagues.

“These are always difficult questions to answer because we never know what’s going to happen tomorrow,” he said. “And as a football professional, this is always an unknown, so I prefer to stay in the present. The present is good and I’m enjoying being at Real Madrid. But in a few years I don’t know how I’m going to be thinking.”

Ronaldo has a contract with Real Madrid until 2018, but there has been widespread speculation about him leaving the Spanish club – despite having become its all-time leading scorer. Those rumors gained ground after his brief sideline meeting with Paris Saint-Germain coach Laurent Blanc in a recent match at the Santiago Bernabeu Stadium, but Ronaldo has been downplaying any immediate move out of Madrid.

“When it’s closer to ending my contract I’m going to have to make decisions, whether it’s staying at Real Madrid or going to another club or ending my career in a few years,” the 30-year-old Ronaldo said.

“It’s normal. That’s why I’m not worried, because I know that everything has a beginning and everything has an end. I’m ready for that. I’m ready to stay at Real Madrid, to leave, to end my career when it’s time. It’s part of my job.”

The Portugal star, voted the best player in the world three times, played six seasons with Manchester United before joining Madrid in 2009.

Cristiano Ronaldo: I want to retire with 'dignity', not in USA, Qatar or Dubai

Ronaldo said he wanted to finish his career ‘with dignity’ in an interview slated to air Saturday on ITV. Photograph: Hotsauce/REX Shutterstock

Cristiano Ronaldo said on Thursday that he wants to end his career “with dignity” and not playing in “the United States, Qatar or Dubai”.

The Real Madrid and Portugal star, the subject of a new documentary that premiered on Monday in London, said in an interview on ITV’s The Jonathan Ross Show that he expected to play six or seven more seasons and hoped to finish his career at the highest level.

The remarks ostensibly referenced the recent wave of top players who have finished their careers outside of Europe’s top leagues, among them MLS imports Didier Drogba, Steven Gerrard, Frank Lampard, Andrea Pirlo and David Villa, along with Xavi, the lifelong Barcelona midfielder who signed with Qatari club Al Sadd in May.

“That does not mean it’s bad play in the leagues of the United States, Qatar or Dubai, but I do not see myself there,” Ronaldo said.

Ronaldo, who turns 31 in February, became Real Madrid’s all-time leading goalscorer last month and has thrice won the Ballon d’Or.

In March, Sports Illustrated’s Grant Wahl reported that Ronaldo’s plan was to head to MLS upon the expiration of his contract in 2018, citing multiple sources. Weeks later Wahl reported that not only did Ronaldo plan on playing in America, but he’d already indicated a preferred city: Los Angeles.

Cristiano Ronaldo scores four for Real Madrid as they rout Malmo 8-0

Cristiano Ronaldo set a record for goals scored in the group stage of theChampions League of 11 when he scored four in an 8-0 win against Malmo in Group A on Tuesday.

The goals came in 22 minutes. The Portugal forward made it 3-0 to his team seven minutes before half-time at the Bernabéu and added three more in the 47th, 50th and 59th minutes.

Ronaldo, who has reached double figures for a fifth consecutive Champions League campaign, extended his all-time Champions League scoring record to 88 goals.

He is the first Real player to score four goals in a Champions League match, with the overall record of five held by Barcelona’s Lionel Messi and Luiz Adriano, who achieved the feat with Shakhtar Donetsk but now plays for Milan.

Ronaldo’s first goal improved his surprisingly poor record at free-kicks. It was only the third free-kick the Ballon d’Or holder had scored from in his last 97 attempts in all competitions, according to Spanish Twitter statistician @2010MisterChip.

The Portuguese also set up two goals by Karim Benzema and Mateo Kovavic put Real 7-0 ahead in the 70th minute before Benzema completed the rout with his third goal of the night 16 minutes from time.

Real finished the group stage on 16 points, with Paris St Germain, who had already qualified in second place, on 13 after they won 2-0 at home to Shakhtar Donetsk.

The game meant little for Madrid because they had already secured first place in Group A but the convincing victory helped ease the pressure on the coach, Rafael Benítez, and the president, Florentino Pérez.

“We knew it would be a strange match because they had to come out and play to win to finish third,” Benitez said afterwards. “We scored eight but it could have been more. I have always said that I am not defensive and this demonstrates it.”

Shakhtar and Malmo, who lost to Nottingham Forest in the 1979 European Cup final, each have three points, with the Ukrainian side securing third place and a Europa League berth thanks to a better head-to-head record.

Cristiano Ronaldo’s remarkable Real Madrid goalscoring record in full

Real Madrid’s Cristiano Ronaldo celebrates his first of five goals against Espanyol. Photograph: Alejandro Garcia/EPA

Cristiano Ronaldo became Real Madrid’s leading scorer of all time in October, eclipsing Raúl’s record of 323. Ronaldo hit both goals during his side’s 2-0 win over Malmo in the Champions League in September 2015 to pull level with with the Spanish striker.

Raúl hit 323 goals in 741 appearances for Real Madrid between 1994 and 2010, while Ronaldo has needed a mere 308 games to match him and three more to surpass him. With 34 hat-tricks for the club, Ronaldo has already eclipsed Alfredo di Stéfano’s record of 28.

In scoring five goals from open play in the match against Granada last season, Ronaldo joined an exclusive list of Real Madrid players, including Eulogio Martínez, Ferenc Puskás, Hans Krankl, Bebeto and Fernando Morientes, to have achieved the feat. In doing it again against Espanyol this season, he became the club’s leading La Liga scorer of all time.

Ronaldo is the only player in La Liga history to score more than 25 goals in six seasons.

And in December 2015 Ronaldo set a record for goals scored in the group stage of the Champions League of 11 when he scored four in an 8-0 win against Malmo.

Ronaldo’s Real Madrid goalscoring record in numbers

14 goals in 19 league matches this season

48 goals in 35 league games last season

338 goals for Real Madrid, 15 ahead of Raúl’s 323 and 31 more than Alfredo di Stéfano’s 307

34 Real Madrid hat-tricks – has passed Alfredo di Stéfano’s record of 28

28 La Liga hat-tricks

62 penalties

75 Champions League goals (88 career total)

17 goals in the 2013-14 Champions League – a record which broke the previous mark of 14 jointly held by José Altafini and Lionel Messi
Hat-tricks

1. Mallorca 1-4 Real Madrid, La Liga, 5 May 2010

Despite falling behind to an Aritz Aduriz goal after 16 minutes, Ronaldo responded with his first Madrid hat-trick to keep them in a title hunt which would ultimately prove unsuccessful

2. Real Madrid 6-1 Racing, La Liga, 23 October 2010

After a slow start to the 2010-11 season, with Ronaldo netting just once in his first seven appearances for Madrid, this four-goal haul in a 6-1 thrashing of Racing made it 11 goals in October for the man from Madeira

3. Real Madrid 5-1 Athletic Bilbao, La Liga, 20 November 2010

A month later Ronaldo was at it again, a penalty in the second minute of added time completing a hat-trick that also included a stunning 30-yard free-kick

4 .Real Madrid 8-0 Levante, Copa del Rey, 22 December 2010

In the last game before the Spanish winter break, Ronaldo completed his three-goal haul moments after Karim Benzema had bagged three of his own, rifling home from the France striker’s pass in the 74th minute

5. Real Madrid 4-2 Villarreal, La Liga, 9 January 2011

The winter break proved to be little distraction as he grabbed the first perfect hat-trick of his Madrid career – scoring with his right foot, left foot and head in another resounding victory

6. Real Madrid 7-0 Malaga, La Liga, 3 March 2011

Ronaldo notched his fifth hat-trick of the season as Malaga were the latest team to be swept aside at the Bernabéu in early March – but he was far from done for the season

7. Sevilla 2-6 Real Madrid, La Liga, 7 May 2011

Real Madrid destroyed Sevilla 2-6 at the Sánchez Pizjuán as Ronaldo notched four to kick off a remarkable goalscoring sequence of 11 goals in the final four games of the season

8. Real Madrid 4-0 Getafe, La Liga, 10 May 2011

It was seventh heaven for Ronaldo when his penalty in added time completed a 4-0 rout of Getafe and made it seven hat-tricks for the season. Despite his efforts, it was Barcelona who would win their third consecutive La Liga title this season

9. Real Zaragoza 0-6 Real Madrid, La Liga, 28 August 2011

A new season, but it was the same old story for La Liga defences as Real Zaragoza were the first to come under the sword in 2011-12, Ronaldo carrying on from where he left off

10. Real Madrid 6-2 Rayo Vallecano, La Liga, 24 September 2011

A brace from the future Swansea striker Michu was scant consolation for Real’s lesser-known city neighbours in this 6-2 defeat at the Bernabéu, Ronaldo converting two penalties in his latest Madrid hat-trick

11. Malaga 0-4 Real Madrid La Liga, 22 October 2011

Madrid swept away Malaga once again thanks in no small part to a 15-minute Ronaldo hat-trick in the first half – on 23, 28 and 38 minutes

12. Real Madrid 7-1 Osasuna, La Liga, 6 November 2011

Ronaldo made it four hat-tricks for the season in November 2011, two headed goals coming either side of another successful penalty kick

13. Sevilla 2-6 Real Madrid, La Liga, 17 December 2011

Seven months on from a 6-2 home defeat to Real Madrid, Sevilla showed real signs of progress with a 6-2 home defeat to Real Madrid, Ronaldo rounding off his treble with an 85th-minute penalty

14. Real Madrid 4-2 Levante, La Liga, 12 February 2012

Ronaldo’s hat-trick helped Madrid overcome stubborn opponents in Levante and record their seventh consecutive league win

15. Atlético Madrid 1-4 Real Madrid, La Liga, 11 April 2012

Real’s derby hoodoo over their city rivals showed no signs of holding up in their latest meeting at the Calderón, two goals from Ronaldo in the second half adding to his first-half free-kick for a resounding victory and an eventual title win

16. Real Madrid 5-1 Deportivo La Coruña, La Liga, 30 September 2012

Two more penalties and a close-range header were enough for Ronaldo’s first hat-trick of the new season against Deportivo ...

17. Ajax 1-4 Real Madrid, Champions League, 3 October 2012

...and he followed that one up a few days later with his first ever Champions League hat-trick in the Amsterdam Arena as Madrid cruised to a 4-1 win, rounding off the scoring with a delightful left-footed lob over the keeper from 18 yards

18. Real Madrid 4-0 Celta Vigo, Copa del Rey, 9 January 2013

Real, 2-1 behind after a surprising defeat in the first leg, recovered to see off Celta Vigo with three goals from you know who

19. Real Madrid 4-0 Getafe, La Liga, 27 January 2013

Ten minutes was all it took for Ronaldo to complete his 19th hat-trick for Real and not just any one: it was another ‘perfect’ hat-trick – left foot, header, right foot – finished off with a 72nd-minute penalty

20. Real Madrid 4-1 Sevilla, La Liga, 9 February 2013

A couple of weeks later Sevilla were once again put to the sword by Ronaldo and co, this time in the Bernabéu after two earlier 6-2 home defeats

2.1 Galatasaray 1-6 Real Madrid, Champions League, 17 September 2013

Real Madrid emerged from the hostile atmosphere of the Turk Telecom Arena with a 6-1 win in September 2013, a second Champions League hat-trick for Ronaldo underlining the chasm between the sides on the night

22. Real Madrid 7-3 Sevilla, La Liga, 30 October 2013

Another day, another hammering for Sevilla and another hat-trick for a player who by now was closing in on his first Ballon d’Or

23. Real Madrid 5 Real Sociedad 1, La Liga, 9 November 2013

A free-kick, a penalty and a powerful strike from a narrow angle saw to Ronaldo’s final Madrid hat-trick of the season which – considering it was only November – was a step-down from his exceptionally high standards

24. Deportivo La Coruna 2-8 Real Madrid, La Liga, 20 September 2014

A first Ronaldo treble in almost a year set Madrid on their way to a frankly preposterous winning scoreline against the former La Liga champions Deportivo, who were returning to the top flight after a year’s absence. Welcome back

25. Real Madrid 5-1 Elche, La Liga, 23 September 2014

Ronaldo made it seven goals in four days with a four-goal haul against Elche, his 21st La Liga hat-trick leaving him one off the record set by Alfredo di Stéfano

26. Real Madrid 5-0 Athletic Bilbao, La Liga, 5 October 2014

Ronaldo scored in his eighth consecutive match as early as the third minute, heading home Gareth Bale’s cross, before the Welshman again teed him in the second half. No3 was not the Portuguese’s finest, bundling over the line in the closing stages, but they all count

27. Real Madrid 3-0 Celta Vigo, La Liga, 6 December 2014

Ronaldo opened the scoring by converting a penalty that he had won, sending Sergio Álvarez the wrong way on 36 minutes. His second arrived on 66 minutes, smashing home a rebound, before the 29-year-old completed Real’s 18th straight win by slotting home at the far post

28. Real Madrid 9-1 Granada, La Liga, 5 April 2015

Ronaldo reached new heights against Granada, scoring a hat-trick in eight first-half minutes. After clipping home his first on the half-hour mark, he scored again in the 36th and 38th minutes to equal Alfrédo di Stefano’s record of 28 Real Madrid hat-tricks – before adding two more goals in the second half

29. Sevilla 2-3 Real Madrid, La Liga, 2 May 2015

After scoring twice inside two first-half minutes against Sevilla, Ronaldo scored a third in the second half to keep his side two points behind the leaders Barcelona at the top of La Liga. Ronaldo’s three goals took his tally for the season to 42, keeping him ahead of Barcelona’s Lionel Messi, who could manage only two in the Catalans’ 8-0 win at Córdoba, and putting him two behind Ronaldo on 40 league goals for the season.

30. Espanyol 1-4 Real Madrid, La Liga, 16 May 2015

Although it was ultimately in vain as Barcelona claimed the league title back in Madrid, Ronaldo bagged yet another treble against Espnayol. And this one was a ‘perfect’ hat-trick; one with his right foot, one with his left and one with his head as he lead his team to another victory.

31. Real Madrid 7-3 Getafe, La Liga, 23 May 2015

Real went 2-1 down before Ronaldo scored two quick goals to complete his hat-trick within 35 minutes. The match was also notable for 16-year-old Martin Odegaard’s Real Madrid debut.

32. Espanyol 0-6 Real Madrid, La Liga, 12 September 2015

Ronaldo scored five goals and became Real Madrid’s all-time top scorer in La Liga as he inspired Los Blancos to a thumping 6-0 win. His claimed his hat-trick within the first 20 minutes of the match.

33. Real Madrid 4-1 Shakhtar Donetsk, Champions League, 15 September 2015

After Shakhtar’s Taras Stepanenko was sent off for a second yellow card, Ronaldo scored two penalties and before a late header brought him to within two goals of Raúl’s record of 323 goals for Real Madrid.

34. Real Madrid 8-0 Malmo, Champions League, 8 December 2015

Ronaldo scored four goals in the space of 22 minutes against the Swedish side as Real turned on the style in their final group game.