Cristiano Ronaldo says the 2014-15 campaign was “probably the best season of my career,” but he still predicted that Lionel Messi will win the Ballon d’Or for the fifth time in January.

The Real Madrid star is a candidate to win his fourth at the ceremony in Zurich, but he admitted Messi has the advantage this year after the Argentine led Barcelona to the Treble last season.

“To be honest I think Messi is going to win this year because this kind of trophy, it depends on votes,” he said on The Jonathan Ross Show, set to air on Saturday night.

“You win competitions, you win the Champions League you win the league in terms of individual. I did probably the best season of my career which is good and I was the highest scorer in Europe [but] it’s all about votes, it’s difficult and to be honest I’m not very worried about that because as I said many times, I never thought I’d win three times to be honest.”

Although the award has gone to either Ronaldo or Messi in each of the past seven years, Ronaldo declined to call Messi his “rival.”

“I don’t have rivals, we have a normal relationship,” Ronaldo said. “We shared this stage at FIFA for eight years. No one has done that in the past — only us — so it’s good.

“I have a good relationship with him, he plays for one club, I play for another club. He won the best for him, I won the best for me.”

“We have a good relationship, we are not home friends but we respect each other.”

Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi will again be candidates for the Ballon d’Or award in January.

During the lighthearted interview, Ronaldo also admitted he still cannot understand what his former manager Sir Alex Ferguson is saying.

The Real Madrid forward describes Ferguson as a “father” figure who was vital in shaping his career during six years at Manchester United, but confessed that he still finds the Scottish manager’s Glaswegian accent impenetrable.