Cristiano Ronaldo may skip Ballon d'Or 2021 ceremony as Lewandowski likely to win: Reports

Five-time Ballon d'Or winner Cristiano Ronaldo will reportedly miss the 2021 presentation ceremony of the coveted award after not being expected to finish in the top three for the first time since 2007.

The Ballon d'Or 2021 award will be handed out in Paris at the Theatre du Chatelet on Monday, November 29. This year's battle for perhaps the biggest individual honour in football is expected to be a close battle between Bayern Munich's Robert Lewandowski and PSG's Lionel Messi.

Cristiano Ronaldo not expected to attend Ballon d'Or 2021 ceremony

According to Portuguese outlet SIC, Cristiano Ronaldo will not attend the Ballon d'Or 2021 presentation ceremony. He along with six-time winner Lionel Messi has won the individual honour in 11 of the previous 12 editions. The only time when neither of them won the trophy was in 2018 when Real Madrid's Luka Modric pipped the two.

The Croatian won the UEFA Champions League with his club before helping his country reach the finals of the 2018 FIFA World Cup, where they lost to eventual champions France. Considering the dominance of Ronaldo and Messi in the past, it will be strange to not see one of them be on the stage this season.

Messi and Lewandowski are top contenders for Ballon d'Or 2021

Lionel Messi has witnessed an outstanding 2021 as he finally helped his national side win the Copa America in July, having lost in the final on three previous occasions. While his start has been slow at PSG, he did achieve a hat-trick of assists in his last game against Saint-Étienne. Meanwhile, it will be a tough ask for anyone, including Messi, to beat Robert Lewandowski for the coveted award this year. The Bayern Munich forward has scored 63 goals in 2021 alone for both club and country. His goalscoring form is by far the highest in Europe's top five leagues.

Ballon d'Or 2021 nominees

GOALKEEPERS

1) Gianluigi Donnarumma (PSG)

DEFENDERS

2) Leonardo Bonucci (Juventus)

3) Giorgio Chiellini (Juventus)

4) Simon Kjær (AC Milan)

5) Cesar Azpilicueta (Chelsea)

6) Ruben Dias (Manchester City)

MIDFIELDERS

7) N'Golo Kante (Chelsea)

8) Mason Mount (Chelsea)

9) Nicolo Barella (Inter Milan)

10) Bruno Fernandes (Manchester United)

11) Pedri (Barcelona)

12) Luka Modric (Real Madrid)

13) Kevin de Bruyne (Manchester City)

14) Jorginho (Chelsea)

15) Phil Foden (Manchester City)

FORWARDS

16) Riyad Mahrez (Manchester City)

17) Erling Haaland (Borussia Dortmund)

18) Harry Kane (Tottenham)

19) Karim Benzema (Real Madrid)

20) Raheem Sterling (Manchester City)

21) Lionel Messi (PSG)

22) Neymar (PSG)

23) Lautaro Martinez (Inter Milan)

24) Robert Lewandowski (Bayern Munich)

25) Mohamed Salah (Liverpool)

26) Romelu Lukaku (Chelsea)

27) Cristiano Ronaldo (Manchester United)

28) Kylian Mbappe (PSG)

29) Gerard Moreno (Villarreal)

30) Luis Suarez (Atletico Madrid)