To absolutely no one's surprise, Cristiano Ronaldo pipped Lionel Messi and Neymar to the Ballon d'Or in Paris, France, on Thursday night.

It means he is now level with Barcelona's Messi on five, which is quite the achievement considering the Argentina was once leading 4-1.

But over the past few years Ronaldo has dominated European football, both domestically and internationally.

With Real Madrid, the 32-year-old has won La Liga once and the Champions League twice in the last two seasons, and with Portugal, he inspired the most unlikely of triumphs at Euro 2016.

"I feel very happy, it's a fantastic moment in my career, I've been waiting for this for a long time," said Ronaldo upon accepting the prestigious award.

"This year has been great, we won the Champions League and La Liga and, on a personal level, I was a top scorer in the Champions League.

"Trophies help win these awards and we have to thank my colleagues from Madrid and Portugal, it was very important for me."

Ronaldo and Messi's dominance will likely continue for a couple of years yet, meaning football could have to wait until 2020 to finally have a new Ballon d'Or winner.

It's been 10 years since a player other than Ronaldo or Messi was crowned the world's best player - and that man was Brazil icon Kaka.

Kaka is as much renowned for once being a world-class attacking midfielder as for being the last player to win the Ballon d'Or that wasn't Ronaldo and Messi.

But that was a long time ago, so when he was asked for his thoughts on Ronaldo winning the award on Thursday, he couldn't help but make a joke about it.

"This year is 10 years since I won the Ballon d'Or and every time Cristiano or Messi wins it's good for me because everyone remembers mine," Kaka said.

He's got a point to be fair. Kaka's decline began prematurely during his time and Real Madrid and he's since returned to AC Milan, joined Orlando City and retired at 35-years-old.

His career could have been so much better than it was and if it had, perhaps Ronaldo and Messi's dominance wouldn't have lasted all these years.

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