Ballon d’Or 2013: Ribery, Ronaldo or Messi?

Bayern Munich were undoubtedly the best team in the world in 2013 and Franck Ribery was undoubtedly their best player so the reason why so many people feel the Frenchman should win the award is easy to see, and hard to argue with.

Ribery was an integral part of Bayern Munich’s treble-winning side in 2012-13, cementing his standing as one of the best wingers in European football, and so far this season has added a Club World Cup medal to his ever-growing collection .

Quick and with excellent close control, Ribery possesses all the attributes to test the world’s best full-backs. The winger’s form was reflective of Bayern’s throughout the year.

Ribery reached double figures for both goals and assists in the league last season and was voted the Bundesliga Player of the Year by his fellow professionals.

This season he has again shown his talent as both a scorer and a creator with six goals and seven assists in the Bundesliga and shows no sign of slowing down as one of the key components in European football's most impressive machine.

Cristiano Ronaldo – Real Madrid and Portugal

There is little he cannot do; he scores goals - free-kicks, headers, individual efforts, tap-ins, you name it - but he also creates opportunities for others with equally reckless abandon. He can play on the left, on the right or through the middle; his versatility makes him a dream for any manager lucky enough to work with him.

The 28-year-old's statistics in 2013 have been simply mind-boggling with an astonishing 66 goals in 56 games for club and country - including nine hat-tricks.

The best and most memorable of these came in Portugal's World Cup play-off second leg against Zlatan Ibrahimovic's Sweden, when Ronaldo carried his nation almost single-handedly to Brazil 2014.

Ronaldo harbours a sense of injustice that he has not won the Ballon d'Or since joining Real Madrid - the bookmakers seem convinced that wrong will be put right on Monday.

Lionel Messi – Barcelona and Argentina

The fact that Lionel Messi is aiming to win this award for the fifth year in a row tells you all you need to know about his consistent brilliance. Such is the high standard he has set over the years that his 2013 seems rather tame by comparison but only because he had a couple of injuries to deal with.

When he has been on the field he has been nothing short of utterly magnificent again though. 42 goals in 45 games continues his unstoppable run of silly numbers and he actually had a much better chance conversion ratio in 2013 than Ronaldo or Ribery.

Messi is not only the most deadly finisher in football, but the best dribbler too. Allied to this is his brilliant passing which means he can prise open defences from deep positions. He is a striker, a wide forward and, at times, a midfield playmaker, all wrapped up in a slender 5ft 7in frame. Football hasn’t seen such an extraordinary, multi-faceted genius like this for a long, long time – arguably ever.