Neymar leads the race for the 2017 Ballon d'Or.

It's not Cristiano Ronaldo or Lionel Messi, but Neymar who is leading the race for the 2017 Ballon d'Or.

According to Bleacher Report, Neymar leads the 2017 Ballon d'Or race in the first quarter. Despite a lackluster first half of the season, Neymar has shone in the second half. His contribution to Barca's 6-1 victory over PSG at Camp Nou will undoubtedly be talked about many times throughout the rest of the year.

"That was the best game I've ever played in my life," Neymar told Marca after helping Barca stage a spectacular comeback at home. Neymar's brilliant performance even overshadowed Messi's.

At the national team level, Neymar also helped Brazil qualify for the 2018 World Cup. To surpass Messi and Ronaldo in the 2017 Ballon d'Or voting, Neymar needs to continue his current form and help Barcelona win the Champions League and La Liga this season.

Meanwhile, Messi was only ranked second after the first four months of the 2017 Ballon d'Or race, despite scoring 18 goals in all competitions this year. Messi has maintained consistent form at Barca, but his career with the national team has not been so successful.

Here are the rankings for the 2017 Ballon d'Or race after the first four months of the year.

Argentina is struggling in the World Cup qualifiers. They will be without Messi for the next three matches, as he is suspended for insulting a linesman. Messi's influence on the Argentine national team is immense, and there are concerns that the Tango team will be unable to qualify for the World Cup without the Barcelona star.

Bayern Munich's Lewandowski is third in the 2017 Ballon d'Or race. The Polish striker continues his formidable goal-scoring form this year with 16 goals in all competitions, including 12 in the Bundesliga. This season, Lewandowski has already scored four hat-tricks at club and international level. If Lewandowski continues this scoring form, Bayern Munich will have a chance to win the Champions League, and the Polish player himself will become a strong contender for the 2017 Ballon d'Or.

Luis Suarez ranked 4th in the 2017 Ballon d'Or race after the first four months of the year. He also scored 16 goals in all competitions, in addition to providing 6 assists. However, Suarez did not have an easy time with the Uruguayan national team. He was suspended due to accumulating enough yellow cards in the 2018 World Cup qualifiers in South America. Without Suarez, Uruguay suffered a crushing 1-4 defeat against Brazil.

Neymar is expected to break the dominance of Ronaldo and Messi in the race for the Ballon d'Or.

Antoine Griezmann ranks fifth with 13 goals this year, but what's even more impressive is that the Atletico Madrid player scored those goals in 12 different matches. Clearly, Griezmann has rediscovered his goal-scoring instincts, after Atletico Madrid experienced a crisis in attack during the first half of this season.

To win the 2017 Ballon d'Or, Griezmann needs to help Atletico Madrid win the Champions League and La Liga titles. But this is a very difficult challenge for him and Diego Simeone's team.

Cristiano Ronaldo is only ranked 6th in the 2017 Ballon d'Or race. This year, the Portuguese star has played reasonably well, scoring 12 goals and providing 5 assists. However, there have been times when Ronaldo has shown he is no longer maintaining his peak form. Nevertheless, Ronaldo can still dream of winning the 2017 Ballon d'Or if he helps Real Madrid win La Liga and successfully defend their Champions League title.

Neymar and the tight shirt at Barcelona

There are two reasons why neutral fans would want to watch Barcelona play. First, they have Leo Messi on the pitch, and Neymar is probably the other reason.

Meanwhile, Gonzalo Higuain (Juventus) is in 11th place, behind Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (Dortmund). Chelsea's N'Golo Kante is 12th in the 2017 Ballon d'Or race, while Hazard is only 14th.

Since 2016, France Football magazine has ended its partnership with FIFA in organizing the FIFA Ballon d'Or award. This means that France Football will once again have exclusive rights to organize the Ballon d'Or award, as in the past, and the voting format has also changed, now only accepting votes from sports journalists worldwide.

People are still waiting for a name to emerge that will break the dominance of Ronaldo and Messi in the Ballon d'Or voting. The last player to surpass Messi and Ronaldo to win the Ballon d'Or was Ricardo Kaka (2007).

According to TT&VH