When Kaka scooped the 2007 Ballon d'Or amid his career zenith at AC Milan, the Brazil midfielder was the 10th winner of football's most prestigious individual prize in as many years.
For a decade, the contest was wide open as modern greats such as Zinedine Zidane, Luis Figo and Ronaldinho enjoyed 12 months to savour before the spotlight inevitably moved on.
The Ballon d'Or was not something to battle for or defend like a league title; it was a bonus – a warmly received tip of the hat for dazzling the game you cherished.
The men ranked second and third behind Kaka in 2007 – Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo - would change all that but, following Messi's coronation as the world's greatest player for a fifth time, is their rivalry, undoubtedly the greatest individual tete-a-tete the sport has ever seen, coming to an end?
He may not play as a standard centre forward at Real Madrid but his movement is akin to one – complementing the more mobile Karim Benzema.
In his defence, the statistics stack up for now – 54 goals in all competitions for Madrid in 2015 is testament to his ability to still cut it - but it is obvious that a player with a diminishing skill-set can only go one way.
By that stage, Ronaldo had swapped Manchester United for Real Madrid. The two greatest players in the world featuring on either side of club football's most historically bitter rivalry leant a razor-sharp edge to their personal duel.
Messi, the diminutive artist with the velvet touch and beguiling close control – as likely to craft and finish one of Barcelona's delightful passing moves as he is to sashay beyond a posse of defenders and impishly lob the goalkeeper.
Ronaldo, the epitome of the 21st century athlete-footballer sprinkled liberally with the magic of yesterday's heroes. An irresistible powerhouse on the field, scything through beleaguered defences and a rare constant among Madrid's raft of Galacticos.
Pundits and fans arguing either player's superiority can cling to the Ballon d'Or – the glitzy gala turned entrenched battle line.
Ronaldo's reaction to beating his most esteemed contemporary into second place over the past two years was telling – 2013's tears followed by a guttural roar last time around. To him, this is more than a simple awards night.
Starring in such close proximity at Madrid and Barcelona and turning the Ballon d'Or into an annual bout of one v one means that, as an individual rivalry, the battle between Ronaldo and Messi is unmatched in football history.
Perhaps the closest comparison to Messi and Ronaldo, certainly in terms of Ballon d'Or domination, comes from Johan Cruyff and Franz Beckenbauer.
Cruyff's run of 1971, 1973 and 1974 wins was interrupted by the great German, who was runner-up in 1974 and 1975 before winning again the following year.
Cruyff's Ajax racked up three consecutive European Cup wins and, after Beckenbauer's Bayern collected the first of their own straight treble, both men led out the Netherlands and West Germany to contest the 1974 World Cup final.
But Cruyff, the pioneering "Total Football" attacker, and Beckenbauer, the revelatory sweeper, were perhaps too different in style. Their influence measured in contrasting ways, while Messi and Ronaldo handily take it in turns to smash individual goalscoring records.
Pele had Eusebio for company as the best player of the 1960s, but they played club football on different continents and the Portuguese forward's nine-goal turn at the 1966 World Cup coincided with Pele's lowest ebb – kicked out of the tournament as Brazil's title defence ended prematurely.
Michel Platini's early 1980s mastery of the global game tailed off before Maradona swept all before him. Like Beckenbauer and Cruyff, and Pele and Eusebio, these players defined their greatness purely on their own terms.
Messi and Ronaldo's towering achievements will for ever be measured against, and therefore defined by, those of the other. Their rivalry stands alongside Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier in boxing, Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal in tennis and Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost in Formula One.
The thought of Ronaldo not being on the shortlist for the final three of the Ballon d'Or has been unthinkable for almost a decade. But, fast forward 12 months, and it appears a real possibility.
