Real Madrid midfielder Toni Kroos has slammed the Ballon d'Or voting.

PSG star Leo Messi won the award for his work with Barcelona and Argentina. But Kroos insists Real teammate Karim Benzema deserved the title.

Kroos said, "First of all, I must say that I am not interested in individual awards at all. But if there are, then they should be fair. In my opinion, this is not the case at all.

"For me, Benzema would have been number one if you really were looking for the best individual player of last year because I see closely how exceptional he is.

"There is no doubt that Messi stands next to Cristiano Ronaldo as the player of this decade and has qualities that others will never have."