I won’t kill myself to win Ballon d’Or – Neymar

Barcelona’s Brazilian star Neymar says winning the Ballon d’Or is one of his goals but he will not lose any sleep if he never takes home football’s top individual award, AFP reports.

“If I don’t win the Ballon d’or, its okay,” he said in an interview posted on the La Liga website on Monday when asked if he was disappointed that he was not named as one of three finalists for the prize this year.

“Of course it is one of my goals winning the Ballon d’Or but I won’t die if I don’t.”

The Ballon d’Or has passed back and forth between Real Madrid’s Portuguese star Cristiano Ronaldo and Barcelona’s Argentine playmaker Lionel Messi for the last nine years since Brazilian Kaka won the 2007 award.

Neymar was a finalist for the prize for the first time last year before losing out to Messi who won the accolade for the fifth time.

Ronaldo was rewarded with the 2016 Ballon d’Or earlier this month for helping Real win the Champions League and leading Portugal to Euro 2016 glory.