Juventus defender, Giorgio Chiellini, has claimed that Real Madrid denied Cristiano Ronaldo a sixth Ballon d’Or last year, by rigging the votes.

Ronaldo, who moved to Juve from Real in the 2018 summer transfer window, finished as the runner-up in the 2018 ceremony, behind his former Blancos team-mate Luka Modric.

This year’s Ballon d’Or was won by Lionel Messi, who lifted the trophy for the sixth time to go one ahead of Ronaldo’s five titles.

Speaking at the ceremony in Milan, Chiellini said:

“It’s ok that Messi has won the Ballon d’Or this year.

“The real theft was last year, Real Madrid decided that Cristiano should not win the Ballon d’Or. It was really strange.

“Cristiano won the Champions League, [but I suppose] by that logic Van Dijk should have won it this year.

“Maybe last year Griezmann, Pogba or Mbappe should have won for doing extraordinary things at the World Cup. Modric made no sense.”