Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi and Neymar headline Ballon d’Or shortlist

Cristiano Ronaldo is hoping to pick up his third consecutive world player of the year award. Photograph: Denis Doyle/Getty Images

REAL Madrid and Barcelona’s devastating forward lines will go head-to-head for the 2015 Ballon d’Or award after both club’s strike trios were named on the 23-man shortlist by Fifa.

Real’s Cristiano Ronaldo, who set a club scoring record with his 324th goal on Saturday, will be going in search of his third consecutive world player of the year award. He faces competition from his team-mates Karim Benzema of France and Welshman Gareth Bale who make up the Spanish side’s “BBC” frontline.
Joining them are four-times winner Lionel Messi, the Argentinian great, and his fellow South American strikers Neymar and Luis Suárez, who form Barcelona’s feared “MSN” frontline that fired a combined 122 goals last season.

Barcelona, who won La Liga, the Champions League and Copa del Rey last season, have the most players on the shortlist with Spanish midfielder Andrés Iniesta, Argentinian defender Javier Mascherano and Croatian Ivan Rakitic joining their front three on the award.

Real have five with Colombian James Rodríguez and German World Cup-winner Toni Kroos also named. German champions Bayern Munich also have five representatives with Robert Lewandowski, Thomas Müller, Arjen Robben, Arturo Vidal and goalkeeper Manuel Neuer.

Vidal is joined by Chilean compatriot Alexis Sánchez after their Copa América success in July. Manchester City midfielder Yaya Touré, winner of the last four African Player of the Year awards, is the only non European or South American to make the list.

The list was composed by the Fifa Football Committee and a group of experts from France Football. The winner will be announced in Zurich on 11 January.- theguardian.com
Shortlist: Sergio Agüero (Argentina/Manchester City), Gareth Bale (Wales/Real Madrid), Karim Benzema (France/Real Madrid), Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal/Real Madrid), Kevin De Bruyne (Belgium/Manchester City), Eden Hazard (Belgium/Chelsea), Zlatan Ibrahimovic (Sweden/Paris Saint-Germain), Andrés Iniesta (Spain/Barcelona), Toni Kroos (Germany/Real Madrid), Robert Lewandowski (Poland/Bayern Munich), Javier Mascherano (Argentina/Barcelona), Lionel Messi (Argentina/Barcelona), Thomas Müller (Germany/Bayern Munich), Manuel Neuer (Germany/Bayern Munich), Neymar (Brazil/Barcelona), Paul Pogba (France/Juventus), Ivan Rakitic (Croatia/Barcelona), Arjen Robben (Netherlands/Bayern Munich), James Rodríguez (Colombia/Real Madrid), Alexis Sánchez (Chile/Arsenal), Luis Suárez (Uruguay/Barcelona), Yaya Touré (Ivory Coast/Manchester City), Arturo Vidal (Chile/Bayern Munich).