Cristiano Ronaldo will reportedly not attend the Ballon d'Or ceremony in Paris on Monday because he is set to finish outside the podium positions.

According to Sport Mediaset (h/t Football Italia), Ronaldo will instead appear at the Gran Gala ceremony in Milan while Lionel Messi wins his sixth Ballon d'Or ahead of second-placed Virgil van Dijk and third-placed Mohamed Salah. 

If Messi does win, he will move one clear of Ronaldo at the head of the all-time winners list.

At the moment, the Barcelona and Juventus stars are the only two players in history to win the prestigious gong five times.

Their 10-year monopoly was broken last year when Luka Modric won the award:

In 2019, Liverpool's Van Dijk has looked the player most likely to starve Messi of victory for a fourth year running:

But reports ahead of the ceremony indicate he will be a Ballon d'Or winner again for the first time since 2015.

At the Gran Gala, Ronaldo, 34, will receive his award for the best Serie A player of 2018-19, his debut campaign with Juve in which he netted 21 goals in 31 appearances and claimed a first Italian league title.

By contrast, in helping Barcelona win La Liga again in 2018-19, Messi scored 36 goals in 34 appearances.