Gonzalo Arroyo Moreno/Getty ImagesCristiano Ronaldo won the Ballon D'or before Messi cliams a hat-trick

"I don't want to have to think about the Ballon d'Or, choosing who is the best in the world should be banned. They are two players from another planet." - Jose Mourinho.

The shortlist for the 2012 Ballon d'Or award was announced this week. Theoretically 23 players are down with a chance of winning the accolade of being the best player on the planet. Realistically, though, only two players will be battling it out for the honour. Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi. Put forward Xavi, Radamel Falcao, Robin van Persie or Andres Iniesta all you like, they won't be winning it.

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It's become almost as certain as Europe taking on the USA in the Ryder Cup, or Barcelona and Real Madrid topping La Liga come the end of this season (although Atleti will have something to say about that, I'm sure). Messi has won the prestigious accolade for the last three seasons and will become the first player ever to win it four times should he be successful this time. The last guy to win it before him? You got it - Cristiano Ronaldo, albeit before the France Football European Football of the Year award joined forces with FIFA's World Footballer of the Year ceremony.

Reports, generally, have been picking out Messi as the winner, again, this year. There are, of course, plenty of reasons to back that up. He scored more goals than Cristiano last season, just (both records were emphatic), and is considered by many not only to be the greatest player of his generation (with three Ballon d'Or awards to back that up) but the greatest player to have graced the beautiful game. You will, of course, get a slightly different theory from the Spanish capital.

Can this be Cristiano's year? You almost got a sense of what is to come when Messi collected the Golden Boot award this week for notching 50 goals last season. As the Ballon d'Or shortlist was revealed, there was the Argentine's face with an award, another one, on the front pages of the Spanish press. Not a day for Ronaldo to pop down the shop and pick the paper up, one would imagine. It was the second high-profile award the Portuguese forward has missed out on this season already after Andres Iniesta claimed UEFA's Best Player Award, pipping Cristiano and his Barca team-mate to the accolade. He wasn't very happy after, either.

"I think Cristiano is annoyed because of the European best player award that Iniesta won," said former Madrid defender Roberto Carlos after the UEFA award, and after CR7 announced he was "sad" for professional reasons at the Santiago Bernabeu and hence not celebrating his goals. His sadness didn't seem to last too long, at least not on the outside, as he quickly started to smile again when finding the back of the net. Some said it was down to missing out on yet another accolade to a Barcelona player, and not getting the praise he believes he deserves. Some believe it was down to not getting the backing from his own club in the build up to, and at, the awards.

Whether that sadness will bode well for him in the big one, the Ballon d'Or, is anyone's guess. The voting now goes to national coaches and captains as well as various press from around the world and, although quality over the last year is what the award is all about, you can imagine some of the voting will be political, and some of the voting could be swayed, albeit very slightly, by the liking or disliking of certain players - where that's right or wrong. That's probably where Ronaldo falls down for any non-Madridistas. His 'sadness' certainly didn't go down too well in world football with talk of money being the problem and he's not exactly the kind of player who comes across as loving his football week-in, week-out. Messi doesn't say much, gets on with his game, and people like him for that.

Mourinho is clearly going to put his star man and countryman forward for the accolade, but he made a good point when saying the winner should have won something considerable in that year. Those boxes were ticked for Messi in the last three years and not-so for Ronaldo. This time, the tables have turned. 'How can you win the Ballon d'Or without collecting titles, without winning anything important?" he said. "Don't come to me telling me about the Intercontinental Cup or the Supercup, this is small stuff. Tell me about fat titles."

When Messi won his hat-trick of awards Barcelona were matching him. Liga title after Liga title and Champions League crowns in there too. There were few arguments over Barca's magician being named the best player in the world. Last season Madrid turned the tables with the Liga crown and both sides only managed the semi-finals of the Champions League. It was Madrid's year - so could this year be Cristiano's? The Portuguese came of age somewhat in the Clasico matches, too. Talk of him not being god enough in the big games firmly put to bed. He has since become the first player to ever score in six consecutive Clasicos. Big-game bottler? Not a chance.

The first Clasico meeting of the season was almost a dress rehearsal for the Ballon d'Or. Anything you can do I can do better. Two goals for Messi and two goals for Ronaldo. One of, if not the, greatest contests in world football, between two of the world's best teams, decided by the respective teams' best players. The video editors for the awards ceremony couldn't have wished for a better match.

Madrid have been closing the gap on Barcelona since Mourinho's arrival at the club and finally overtook them last season, and in some style. Can Cristiano Ronaldo do the same to Lionel Messi? The awards ceremony will be in Zurich, Switzerland, in January and there will no doubt be debate after debate over who, exactly, should be crowned the world's best. Messi-Ronaldo aside, Los Blancos have edged out their bitter rivals 6-5 in terms of number of players included in the short list.

Here's the full 23-man shortlist if you haven't seen it already: Sergio Aguero (Manchester City), Mario Balotelli (Manchester City), Karim Benzema (Real Madrid), Gianluigi Buffon (Juventus), Sergio Busquets (Barcelona), Iker Casillas (Real Madrid), Didier Drogba (Chelsea & Shanghai Shenhua), Radamel Falcao (Atletico Madrid), Zlatan Ibrahimovic (AC Milan & Paris St Germain), Andres Iniesta (Barcelona), Lionel Messi (Barcelona), Manuel Neuer (Bayern Munich), Neymar (Santos), Mesut Ozil (Real Madrid), Gerard Pique (Barcelona), Andrea Pirlo (Juventus), Sergio Ramos (Real Madrid), Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid), Wayne Rooney (Manchester United), Yaya Toure (Manchester City), Robin van Persie (Arsenal & Manchester United), Xabi Alonso (Real Madrid), Xavi Hernandez (Barcelona).

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