AS CILLA BLACK might have said as she watched the livestream of the Ballon D’Or earlier: surprise, surprise.

Leo Messi won an unprecedented fourth, consecutive award at the FIFA gala in Zurich ahead of Cristiano Ronaldo and his Barcelona team-mate Andres Iniesta.

The Argentine No 10 received a vote share of 41.60% to 23.68% for Ronaldo and 10.91% for Iniesta.

But if we can’t find any drama in the actual result, there might well be a few surprises in the ballots released by FIFA this evening.

Ireland manager Giovanni Trapattoni went with the obvious choice of Messi — after a record breaking 12 months — ahead of Real Madrid talisman Ronaldo and Nou Camp playmaker, Xavi.

Trap’s skipper Robbie Keane might well be heading down to the bookies this evening to collect his winnings should he have put his money where his vote was; the LA Galaxy striker chose Messi, Ronaldo and then Iniesta.

But perhaps the most interesting tidbit is this; Irish media representatives, Jimmy Magee and Paul Kelly did not think Messi was in the top three players in the world this year. The pair instead voted for Ronaldo, Iniesta and Italian star Andrea Pirlo.

What do you think of the Irish contingent’s voting?

The world’s greatest — Messi claims record fourth FIFA Ballon d’Or

Snapshot: Here’s the seating plan for the Ballon D’Or ceremony later…