Ballon D’Or 2019: Why Ronaldo snubbed award event

Juventus forward, Cristiano Ronaldo, was notably absent, as his eternal rival Lionel Messi overtook him, by winning his sixth Ballon D’Or prize on Monday night.

Ronaldo was in the running for the prize, along with the Liverpool duo of Virgil van Dijk and Mohammed Salah.The UK Mirror reports that having heard he did not rank among the top three for the award, Ronaldo declined the invitation of the organisers, France Football.

Instead, the Portugal captain posted a picture onto his Instagram account just hours before the awards, posing in one of his Pestana hotels in Lisbon.

He wrote alongside the image: “Visiting the best spot in town”.