And the Ballon D’Or goes to...

This evening’s 2014 Ballon D’Or ceremony in Zurich brings an end to a long build-up period to the award which seems to have started almost as soon as Cristiano Ronaldo won the 2013 prize last January, writes Dermot Corrigan.

A long time before Ronaldo, Lionel Messi and Manuel Neuer were named on the three-man shortlist in early December, the hype machine had long been cranked into overdrive.

Backers of all three have their arguments. Ronaldo was phenomenal as Real Madrid won last season’s Champions League trophy, and began the 2014/15 campaign in outstanding goal-scoring form.