Cristiano Ronaldo's Odds Of Winning Ballon d'Or This Year Have Been Slashed

Cristiano Ronaldo's odds of winning this years Ballon d'Or have dramatically tumbled and he could be set to pick up the award for a sixth time.

Ronaldo enjoyed a great start to life with Juventus by picking up the Serie A title as well as winning the UEFA Nations League with Portugal.

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And according to Bleacher Report, the Portuguese frontman's odds of beating Virgil van Dijk and Lionel Messi to the award have dropped from 33/1 to 5/1 in the last 24 hours.

Ronaldo winning the award would likely be a controversial pick considering how well some players have performed this year.

The obvious candidate is Liverpool's van Dijk, who helped Liverpool win the UEFA Champions League for the sixth time.

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The Dutch defender also helped 'The Reds' come within inches of a first Premier League title.

He also featured for Holland as Ronald Koeman's side faced Portugal in the Nations League final.

There's also the obvious candidate for the crown and it's Lionel Messi.

The diminutive Argentine has enjoyed another spectacular year, winning La Liga with Barcelona for the 10th time.

He also eclipsed the 50 goal mark.

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In comparison, Ronaldo has scored 27 which is still a tidy amount but not comparable to the Barca skipper.

Messi has had a slow start to this season but that is mostly down to numerous injuries.

Ronaldo on the other hand has also endured a timid start, only scoring four goals in seven league games under new boss Maurizio Sarri.

Despite the challenge that van Dijk is providing to further disrupt the Messi and Ronaldo duopoly after Luka Modric last year, the 34-year-old still sees Messi as his primary rival.

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Speaking to France Football, the former Real Madrid man stated per The Express:

"A lot of people said that we fed each other, that being together in Spain made us better,"

That's certainly true, I felt his presence more in Madrid than in Manchester. It was a healthy rivalry.

"We were the symbols of our clubs. I think he said recently that he missed me on a competitive level."

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"It's always nice to be spoken of in a flattering way. It's nice if they say I've been the best, a fantastic player."

Who do you think deserves to win the Ballon d'Or in December?

Sound off in the comments below.

Topics: Football News, Football, Messi, Lionel Messi, Ronaldo, Balon d'Or, Cristiano Ronaldo

Daniel Marland

Daniel is a journalist for SPORTbible and he has previous experience with Manchester United. He has spoken to some of the biggest names in sport including Rio Ferdinand, Peter Crouch, WWE COO Triple H and WWE legend The Undertaker. May or may not do a decent impression of Jamie Carragher.

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