Barcelona forward Neymar has admitted that he hoped to come second behind Lionel Messi in the voting for the 2015 Ballon d'Or.
Messi scooped the prestigious individual honour for a record fifth time following a year that saw him help Barca to five trophies alongside Neymar.
The Brazilian also finished behind Real Madrid's Cristiano Ronaldo in the voting, and he admitted that he would have at least liked to have beaten the three-time winner to second place.
"I'd hoped to come second. I'm delighted to be here alongside two footballing greats. I hope to come back and for my team to keep winning," Neymar told Marca.
"I don't want to be better than anyone else; I just want to better myself. Now I have to work a little bit more to be among the three finalists again."
Neymar finished with just 7.86% of the votes, compared to 41.33% for Messi and 27.76% for Ronaldo.
Written by
Barney Corkhill
Barney Corkhill
