The Barcelona star was included in the fourth set of players named on the 30-man shortlist for this year’s prize, with Cristiano Ronaldo and Zlatan Ibrahimovic among the candidate.
Barcelona stars Lionel Messi and Leicester City winger Riyad Mahrez are among the latest nominees for the Ballon d’Or. Naija and Bet
Messi, who won the prize last year, is looking to win the award for the sixth time in his career, and will come up against long-term rival Cristiano Ronaldo.
Mahrez, meanwhile, was voted the PFA Player of the Season for 2015-16 as the Foxes won the Premier League title for the first time.
The candidates for the Ballon d’Or have been released in blocks of five throughout Monday, with Messi and Mahrez inlcuded alongise Hugo Lloris, Luka Modric and Thomas Muller.
The previous two announcements saw Cristiano Ronaldo, Gareth Bale, Sergio Aguero, Gianluigi Buffon and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang included together, with Kevin De Bruyne, Antoine Griezmann, Paulo Dybala, Gonzalo Higuain and Diego Godin following later, and then Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Andres Iniesta, Koke, Toni Kroos and Robert Lewandowski afterwards.
The next remaining groups of players will be announced at 6:15 pm and 6:30 pm (all times CET).
