The best man won. This has been Cristiano Ronaldo's year, a 12-month carnival of extraordinary forward play. It has been so good, even the man who doesn't like him had to admit it.
'Yes, it was justified,' Lionel Messi noted through gritted teeth. 'It was deserved.'
Much is made of the tensions that exist between Ronaldo and Messi but this is not a rivalry to promote something. This antipathy is genuine and was evident from the moment they walked into a cavernous room in Zurich'sKongresshaus for a pre-ceremony conference.
In marched Ronaldo first, peacock proud, chest puffed out; a glistening diamond in each ear, not a hair out of place, he looked every inch the superstar, a man who – with 31 goals in 30 La Liga games in 2014 – looking every inch the superstar.
Messi shuffled in next, ahead of Manuel Neuer, in a grey hoodie and jeans, appearing as if he had just walked out of the classroom. There had been anxieties within FIFA that Messi might not turn up for their big night and the Argentine hardly gave the impression of wanting to be in Switzerland.
He scored a staggering 56 goals in 2014 but, unlike his rival, he will not look back with any kind of affection; a failure to reach the last four of the Champions League, a lost World Cup final and recent simmering tensions at Camp Nou have knocked Messi from his pedestal.
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