Xavi: 'Cristiano Ronaldo not worthy of Ballon d'Or award'

Barcelona legend Xavi has questioned the decision to award Real Madrid forward Cristiano Ronaldo the Ballon d'Or award ahead of former teammate Lionel Messi.

The Portugal international was crowned the world's best player for a fourth time on Monday following a year that saw him win major honours with both club and country.

Xavi does not believe that trophies should necessarily come into consideration, however, with each player's individual quality across the past 12 months instead a bigger factor in who lands the accolade.

"They counted the major trophies but there are other years in which they didn't use that to award the best player in the world," he told TV3. "Leo Messi is the best despite the trophies that someone else might have won."

Ronaldo, who finished above Messi, Antoine Griezmann, Luis Suarez and Neymar to win the award, was directly involved in 39 of Los Blancos' league goals across 30 games this calendar year.