Football Fans Have Voted For Their Own Ballon d'Or Winner And Lionel Messi Is Only Third

Lionel Messi has come third in a fan-voted Ballon d'Or ceremony - with Robert Lewandowski comfortably coming out on top.

The official award will be handed out on Monday evening and all signs point to Messi being the winner for a seventh time.

Reports claim Messi has been informed and he's also told his friends and family of the historic achievement.

However, not everyone thinks this should've been his year and Transfermarkt have decided to get to the bottom of it.

PA

Using polls on Instagram, the data whiz's have created a knockout format to determine who the REAL Ballon d'Or winner should be.

Check out the full results below and if you're wondering where Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo are, they get an automatic bye to the last 16:

ROUND OF 32

Bruno Fernandes vs Giorgio Chiellini - WINNER: Bruno Fernandes

Karim Benzema vs Nicolo Barella - WINNER: Karim Benzema

Kevin De Bruyne vs Cesar Azpilicueta - WINNER: Kevin De Bruyne

Gianluigi Donnarumma vs Ruben Dias - WINNER: Gianluigi Donnarumma

Erling Haaland vs Phil Foden - WINNER: Erling Haaland

Harry Kane vs Jorginho - WINNER: Harry Kane

Mohamed Salah vs Leonardo Bonucci - WINNER: Mohamed Salah

Robert Lewandowski vs Riyad Mahrez - WINNER: Robert Lewandowski

Romelu Lukaku vs Luka Modric - WINNER: Romelu Lukaku

Kylian Mbappe vs Lautaro Martinez - WINNER: Kylian Mbappe

Pedri vs Raheem Sterling - WINNER: Pedri

N'Golo Kante vs Gerard Moreno - WINNER: N'Golo Kante

Neymar vs Mason Mount - WINNER: Neymar

Luis Suarez vs Simon Kjaer - WINNER: Luis Suarez

Nothing too spectacular there but as the field begins to thin, more and more big names fall to the wayside as Messi and Ronaldo enter the fray.

PA

LAST 16

Lionel Messi vs Bruno Fernandes - WINNER: Lionel Messi

Karim Benzema vs Kevin De Bruyne - WINNER: Karim Benzema

Gianluigi Donnarumma vs Erling Haaland - WINNER: Erling Haaland

Harry Kane vs Mohamed Salah - WINNER: Mohamed Salah

Romelu Lukaku vs Robert Lewandowski - WINNER: Robert Lewandowski

Kylian Mbappe vs Pedri - WINNER: Pedri

Neymar vs N'Golo Kante - WINNER: N'Golo Kante

Cristiano Ronaldo vs Luis Suarez - WINNER: Cristiano Ronaldo

Chelsea midfielder N'Golo Kante beating Neymar. Who would've believed that at the start of 2021? Kante has been transformed under Thomas Tuchel.

PA

QUARTER-FINALS

Mohamed Salah vs Erling Braut Haaland - WINNER: Mohamed Salah

Kylian Mbappe vs Robert Lewandowski - WINNER: Robert Lewandowski

N'Golo Kante vs Cristiano Ronaldo - WINNER: Cristiano Ronaldo

Lionel Messi vs Karim Benzema - WINNER: Lionel Messi

Big names are falling to the wayside now. Kylian Mbappe and Erling Haaland will surely be battling for the Ballon d'Or years down the line, but it isn't their time yet.

PA

SEMI-FINALS

Robert Lewandowski vs Cristiano Ronaldo - WINNER: Robert Lewandowski

Lionel Messi vs Mohamed Salah - WINNER: Mohamed Salah

No Messi and no Ronaldo in the final two? Madness.

PA

FINAL

Mohamed Salah vs Robert Lewandowski

OVERALL WINNER: ROBERT LEWANDOWSKI

It'd be hard to argue against Lewandowski really, wouldn't it?

2021 has seen Lewandowski break Gerd Muller's all-time tally of 40 goals in a single Bundesliga campaign while picking up another Bundesliga title.

The 33-year-old has added an outrageous 25 goals in 19 games across all competitions already this season.

All there is to do now is wait for the award ceremony to go down in Paris next week.

Topics: Football, Robert Lewandowski, Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo

Daniel Marland

Daniel is a journalist for SPORTbible and he has previous experience with Manchester United. He has spoken to some of the biggest names in sport including Rio Ferdinand, Peter Crouch, WWE COO Triple H and WWE legend The Undertaker. May or may not do a decent impression of Jamie Carragher.

@DanMarland_