Forget Messi and Ronaldo – who’s the next best player on the planet?

We all know that Lionel Messi will pick up this year's Ballon d'Or with Ronaldo repressing a scowl in second place.

It's pretty much the same every year. The Argentine and Portuguese put everyone else in the shade. Robert Lewandowski said this week that he can't be compared to the all-conquering duo, despite his phenomenal purple patch. It's clear that football's elite players are divided into two categories: the top two and everyone else. But after Ronaldo and Messi, who are the greatest players on the face of the planet? We're not just talking about recent form - or even who has had the best year - although both are factors. What we're asking is simple: Imagine an alien race arrived on our planet and their first act was to accidentally vaporise both Cristiano and Lionel - who would you tell them was the best footballer on earth? Factoring in everything - form, records, age, potential - everything. Who is it? Because we're shallow and only impressed by shiny things, we've restricted our shortlist to attackers. Because honestly, if you're going to tell an alien that the best exponent of football is a defender or a goalkeeper, you deserve to be vaporised too. What do you think? Rank these 11* players in order on our Facebook/Twitter - adding your own reasons - and we'll share a cross-section of the most interesting points... Luis Suarez - 28 - Uruguay/Barca - #SUA Robert Lewandowski - 27 - Poland/Bayern - #LEW Alexis Sanchez - 26 - Chile/Arsenal - #SAN Gareth Bale - 26 - Wales/Real - #BAL David Silva - 29 - Spain/Man City - #SIL Neymar - 23 - Brazil/Barcelona - #NEY Antoine Griezmann - 24 - France/Atletico Madrid - #GRI Paul Pogba - 22 - France/Juve - #POG Thomas Muller - 26 - Germany/Bayern - #MUL Sergio Aguero - 27 - Argentina/Man City - #AGU Eden Hazard - 24 - Belgium/Chelsea - #HAZ

*We appreciate there will be players you feel we've stupidly omitted but there you go!