Cristiano Ronaldo‘s greatest ambition is to retire having won the Ballon d’Or more times than his long-time rival Lionel Messi.

This is according to the chief of the award Pascal Ferre, who hands out the trophy every year.

Ronaldo is a five-time Ballon d’Or winner and has been nominated the most with a record 17 times but remains one behind Messi.

The Argentine is tipped to be the frontrunner for this year’s award, which would take his tally to seven, but Ferre revealed Ronaldo is desperate to one up Messi.

‘Ronaldo has only one ambition and that is to retire with more Ballon d’Or than Messi and I know because he told me,’ Ferre said, via Marca.

But the Portugal star seemingly will not get his wish this year if the leaked results are to be believed.

The Argentina star has won the award six times and is the frontrunner for this year’s prize

Ahead of the ceremony next Monday, this year’s winner was reportedly leaked earlier this week with Messi scooping up the coveted accolade once again, via talkSPORT.

Karim Benzema, who was found guilty in his sex-tape blackmail case this week, has reportedly come in second, while Robert Lewandowski rather controversially finished third.

Messi won the award at the last ceremony in 2019, while Ronaldo has not secured the prize since 2016. The PSG forward was preceded by Luka Modric, who, according to Ferre, ‘cried like a child’ when he called to tell the Croatian he had won.

Luka Modric reportedly ‘cried like a child’ when he was informed he had won the award in 2019

The French journalist believes revealing the winner at the gala is part of the magic of the award and goes to great lengths to keep their identity secret.

‘We are very careful. The winner of the Ballon d’Or is a big secret. I don’t think there is a comparable situation in sport,’ he said.

Ronaldo was in the running this year, making the 11-man shortlist, but is not considered a favourite.

He hasn’t quite hit his usual dizzying heights following his return to England in the summer, but has almost single-handedly kept Manchester United in the Champions League with a string of late goals.

The Portuguese also became the most prolific goalscorer of all time in international football earlier this season.