After Cristiano Ronaldo was pipped to the 2019 Ballon d'Or award, one of the Juventus superstar's teammates has made a shocking accusation against the Portugal captain's former club.
Ronaldo, who did not attend the Ballon d'Or ceremony in Paris on Monday night, saw long-time rival Messi walk away with a record-sixth Golden Ball.
Following the announcement, the 34-year-old's Juve teammate Giorgio Chiellini revealed his belief that Messi deserved to win the award, but added that Ronaldo had been "robbed" by his former club Real Madrid last year.
The Italy international appeared to suggest that Real had influenced the decision-making process after the Portuguese left the Madrid club to join the Bianconeri, and that Modric should not have won the award last year.
"The real theft was last year, Real Madrid decided that Cristiano should not win the Ballon d'Or. It was really strange.
"... Maybe last year (Antoine) Griezmann, (Paul) Pogba or (Kylian) Mbappe should have won for doing extraordinary things at the World Cup, (but) Modric made no sense."
Ronaldo ended third place in the voting polls for this year's award, behind Messi and Liverpool defender Virgil van Dijk.
