Barcelona's Argentine superstar Lionel Messi was the only other European powerhouse realistically in the running for France Football's Player of the Year award. However,
the voting went as predicted, with Manchester United's prolific
Portuguese ace Cristiano Ronaldo gaining the bulk of the votes from the
96 journalist judges, with Messi in second and Fernando Torres of
Liverpool rounding off the top three.
In the aftermath Messi
claimed that he's not despondent despite losing out to Ronaldo, before
hinting that he'll be better placed to win the award in future.
He said, "I was not ever worried about the Ballon d'Or, much less now.
"Fortunately
things are going well me, but I always say that the most important
thing is to keep doing well for the team and to win many titles.
"I am only 21 years old and I have left many things to do in football."
