Cristiano Ronaldo Deserves Ballon D'or Ahead of Lionel Messi, Says Robbie Fowler

The race for the prestigious FIFA Ballon D'Or has once again boiled down to a race bewteen the two best players in the world, Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo. In an exclusive interview to NDTV, Liverpool legend Robbie Fowler has picked Ronaldo as the best player in the world. According to Fowler, "Its a real tough one, but for me I will go with Ronaldo."

There's no doubt that Ronaldo has improved his form from last year by leaps and bounds. 2014 could well be his best year in what is already a stellar career.

The 29 year old scored 17 goals in last season's Champions League that took Real Madrid to their 10th title

Earlier this month Ronaldo scored his 23rd La Liga hat-trick and became the fastest player to reach 200 La Liga goals. In fact Real Madrid forward and Ronaldo's clubmate James Rodriguez recently said in an interview that 99% of the votes for the coveted trophy should go to the Portuguese.

But Ronaldo's bitter rival Lionel Messi too is a strong contender. He has made the Ballon D'Or shortlist every year since 2007. He also recently became the highest goal scorer in La Liga and the UEFA Champions League. Messi's Barcelona clubmate Xavi has in fact said that Ronaldo should not get the Ballon D'Or because he did not do much at the World Cup, while Messi took Argentina to the final. But Fowler disagrees "I think messi is an unbelievable player, he has been number one for over the years and Ronaldo has overtaken him, last couple of years he has been tremendous and if I had to pick one, it would be Ronaldo for me."

So is Ronaldo set for an encore? The official announcement of the Ballon D'or is on January 12, 2015.