Ballon d'Or: Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo and Manuel Neuer in numbers
Trio up for Fifa award
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Your support makes all the difference.Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo and Manuel Neuer are in a three-way battle for the Fifa Ballon d'Or award which will be dished out in Zurich later today.
Whilst direct comparisons between Messi and Ronaldo are simple enough to draw - they both play in the same league and in similar positions - with goalkeeper Neuer in the mix it's not so simple. Judging who should win the award based on most goals might be a bit unfair to the German.
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So instead, we've pulled out some key stats on each of the contenders that show why they made it to the final three...
LIONEL MESSI IN 2014
Scored 50 goals in 52 games for Barcelona
19 assists in 52 appearances for Barcelona
8 goals in 14 appearances for Argentina
Won the World Cup golden ball, recognising him best player at the tournament in Brazil
Beat La Liga's all-time top scoring record of 251 goals
Reached final of World Cup with Argentina
CRISTIANO RONALDO IN 2014
56 goals in 51 appearances for Real Madrid
21 assists in 51 games for Real Madrid
5 goals in 9 appearances for Portugal
Won the Champions League and Supercopa with Real Madrid
MANUEL NEUER IN 2014
Kept a clean sheet in 55 per cent of games
Took 45 touches per game
Won the World Cup with Germany
Won the golden glove award in Brazil
Won the Bundesliga and DFB-Pokal with Bayern Munich
The winner will be announced later today.
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