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Cristiano Ronaldo beats Lionel Messi to win Ballon d'Or 2016 for a 4th time...

Real Madrid forward Cristiano Ronaldo beat rival Lionel Messi to win the prestigious Ballon d'Or award for a fourth time.

The 31-year-old is now one behind Barcelona's Messi, who took the honour for a fifth time last year.

Atletico Madrid's French forward Antoine Griezmann finished third in the vote.

Ronaldo helped Real Madrid win last season's Champions League and scored three goals as Portugal won Euro 2016.

He has now won the Ballon d'Or in 2008, 2013, 2014 and 2016, with Messi the only other recipient of the award since winning it for the first time in 2009.

"I never thought in my mind that I would win the Golden Ball four times. I am pleased. I feel so proud and happy," said Ronaldo.

"I have the opportunity to thank all of my team-mates, the national team, Real Madrid, all of the people and players who helped me to win this individual award."

The former Manchester United forward has scored 19 goals in 20 games for club and country this term, to add to the 54 he got last season.

Ronaldo's Real Madrid team-mate Gareth Bale finished sixth in the vote, while Leicester City striker Jamie Vardy - the only Englishman included on the 30-player shortlist - was eighth.

The Ballon d'Or is voted for by 173 journalists from around the world.

It has been awarded by France Football every year since 1956, but for the past six years it became the Fifa Ballon d'Or in association with world football's governing body and was awarded to the world's best player.

However, Fifa ended its association with the award in September.

Fifa will hand out its own prize for the world's best men's player, along with the best women's player and team of the year, at the Best Fifa Football Awards ceremony in Zurich on 9 January.

Ronaldo's 2016 in numbers

• 42 games, 38 goals, 14 assists
• Third best minutes-per-goal rate - 83.68 - of anyone scoring a minimum of 10 goals across Europe's top five leagues during 2016, behind Luis Suarez (82.57) and Falcao (59.6)
• Directly involved in 39 La Liga goals in 30 games - 31 scored and nine assists.

From sixth... to the winner

France Football counted down the ranking on their Twitter feed, starting with West Ham's Dimitri Payet and Real Madrid team-mates Toni Kroos and Luka Modric, who finished joint 17th in the vote.

They got down to announcing Bale in sixth at around 19:00 GMT before suddenly jumping to the winner and completely missing out fifth to second.

Seventy minutes after Ronaldo was confirmed as the latest recipient of the Ballon d'Or, Messi finally discovered that he had finished as runner-up.

An excellent year, but Messi misses out

Ronaldo was favourite to win the award after a stellar year for club and country.

But Messi had also been in superb form, helping Barcelona win La Liga last season as well as scoring 50 goals in 50 games in 2016.

He also played in the Copa America for Argentina in the summer, scoring five goals, but missed a penalty in the final as Chile won the shootout 4-2.

He announced his international retirement following that defeat but reversed his decision in August.

How did the Premier League players do?

Photo: Riyad Mahrez was named BBC African Footballer of the Year on the same day as the Ballon d'Or winner was announced

Eight Premier League players had made it on to the 30-player shortlist, with five making it into the top 17.

Vardy was joined in the top 10 by his Leicester City team-mate and PFA Player of the Year Riyad Mahrez, who finished seventh in the vote, with both players being recognised for their part in a stunning season for the Foxes as they won the 2015-16 title.

Manchester United also had two players in the top 17, with Swedish striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic 13th and French midfielder Paul Pogba, who became the world's most expensive player when he joined the Red Devils from Juventus for £89m, 14th.

Also included among the nominees were Manchester City duo Sergio Aguero and Kevin de Bruyne and Tottenham goalkeeper Hugo Lloris.

-BBC