Barcelona vs Real Madrid in Ballon d’Or award shortlist

The shortlist for Fifa’s Ballon d’Or award has been announced on Tuesday October 20 and the forward lines for Barcelona and Madrid will face off for the 2015 honour.

For Barcelona four-time winner Lionel Messi, Neymar and Luis Suarez have made the shortlist. On the Real Madrid side record scorer Cristiano Ronaldo, Karim Benzema and Gareth Bale will be competing for the award.

Gareth Bale, the Welsh and Real Madrid forward, is the only British player named on the list.

Spain’s La Liga has the most nominations with 11 players in contention. The Bundesliga has six nominees and there are five players from the Premier League nominated.

Three Manchester City players, Sergio Aguero, Kevin de Bruyne and Yaya Toure are in the frame alongside Arsenal’s Alexis Sanchez and Chelsea’s Eden Hazard.

Barcelona lead the way with nominations with midfielder Iniesta, defender Mascherano and Croatian Rakitic making a total of six nominations for the club.

Real Madrid has five nominations with James Rodriguez and Toni Kroos joining the front three.

On the other shortlist for Coach of the Year, Jose Mourinho for Chelsea and Arsene Wenger for Arsenal are among the contenders.