Totti calls Ronaldo, Messi and Neymar 'footballing aliens'

Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi and Neymar are the three contenders for the FIFA prize - now separate from France Football's Ballon d'Or - and Totti admits he is a huge admirer of all of them.

“First of all, we are talking about three footballing aliens,” Totti explained to FIFA.com. “I must say that we always respected each other on and off the field.

"But I think that, in the end, Ronaldo is ahead of the others. He had an amazing season and also accomplished all of his goals with the most prestigious of teams.”

Totti was asked for his opinion on some of the other awards to be handed out at this month's ceremony in London.

The 41-year-old believes Champions League winners Real Madrid could pick up many of the awards, including Coach of the Year.

“It’s fair to say that our [Italian] coaching school is still top quality," Totti noted.

“Despite the extraordinary job of [Chelsea manager] Antonio Conte and [Juventus boss] Maximiliano Allegri I think Zinedine Zidane is the favourite for the same reasons as Cristiano Ronaldo: he won everything the last season.”