Football fans were left in disbelief after Lionel Messi was ranked the fifth best player in the world at Monday's Ballon d'Or ceremony in Paris.
The Argentine star ranked behind World Cup winners Kylian Mbappe and Antoine Griezmann as Cristiano Ronaldo came runner up to Real Madrid midfielder Luka Modric.
After the Argentine was revealed in fifth spot, social media was awash with statistics to show the baffling nature of the decision to have him outside the top three for the first time since 2006.
In a year where Messi won three trophies - including the La Liga title - he hit 43 goals, racked up 21 assists and boated the most goals in Europe and the most Champions League goals.
A poor World Cup with Argentina undoubtedly influenced the decision this time round but fans were left fuming at the 'disrespect' shown to one of the game's all-time greats.
Jody Morris, assistant manager to Frank Lampard at Derby County, wrote: 'Messi 5th best player in world... what a load of old ****.'
One baffled supporter of Messi produced a GIF from the hit television show The Simpsons which read 'The End is Near' after being left in shock at his ranking.
Given it is an individual accolade, many on social media felt Messi was being unfairly punished for the poor performance of Argentina as a whole at the World Cup in Russia.
His form for Barcelona was consistently strong both domestically and in Europe and one user added: 'You ranked the best player in the world at 5th... FIFTH. Have some shame and actually watch him play.'
Messi last won the Ballon d'Or title back in 2015, which was his fifth time winning the award - a joint record with Juventus star Ronaldo.
The Argentine won the trophy a record four times consecutively from 2009-2012
The scoring system for the Ballon d'Or saw prestigious journalists from across Europe select their top three players for the year.
If a player was given a top selection they received five points, three points for second and one for third before totals were accumulated.
buybdikmns
206
Lionel Messi,will surely prove all his critics wrong sooner or later, ,Now you have made, some of us to doubt the integrity of the Ballon'dor, in the first place winner deed well in ucl campaigned, but Ronaldo deserves it N secondly Lionel Messi is not the 5th player in the of football on earth today.Let us be realistic.2014 Lionel Messi was world cup finalist the Ballon'dor was given to Cr7 who was not able to qualified from the group stage let alone the knockout stages, but he won the Ballon'dor.please bring out the crate real used to make Lionel Messi the 5th player on earth . Lionel Messi and Ronaldo, will remained the best players of time till they fade out.No one can take their gifted talent from them so be fair to them.
Kuybpr
206
if messi is 5th ronaldo should be 7th
CR7RealMadrid12
154
Yeah ballon d'or is now a joke... How come one of the best players of all time is coming out as the fifth best player? It's a pity... I am a Real Madrid fan but I feel like all this is just a robbery of the century, Modrid didn't not obviously deserve to win it... CR7 and LM10 both deserve to win...
wiwloprz
152
i am a big fan of modric but wtf messi and cr7 below himi think football era is finished i would have been more happy if grizmen or cr7 had won and i think messi he deserve atleast top 3 cr7 and messi they are the only reason football still in top for me cr7=650,modric=600,messi=598
__jonathan__
8
Hahaha bro messi performes only in small competitions such as copa del ray. Go check their stats in the ucl, World cup and la liga
dude u r telling us to check his stats in laliga u have clearly lost ur mind ....u r the one who is drunk...fans like u are a disgrace to ronaldo and football as a whole....