Messi still the masterful one

No surprise to learn this week that Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi declined to vote for each other in the Ballon d’Or.

The Madrid man opted for Monaco striker Radamel Falcao while Messi – who kept all of his three nominations in the Barcelona family – gave his first preference to Andres Iniesta.

The planet’s two greatest players have never been on friendly terms but if the worst they can manage is to blank each other in the ballot box then theirs is a rivalry which clearly falls a long way short of being even a half-decent feud, let alone the long-running, full-blooded and hugely entertaining war of words still being waged by their great predecessors in the world game, Pele and Maradona.