Real Madrid president Florentino Perez suspects the Ballon d'Or landscape may be shifting as Lionel Messi 's stranglehold on football's greatest individual honour slips.
Paris Saint-Germain superstar Messi, 34, claimed his seventh award in late November to enhance his status as the greatest footballer of all time.
But the decision was not universally popular as many fans believed Robert Lewandowski was the deserving winner after another sensational season at the tip of the Bayern Munich attack, having been denied the 2020 accolade.