[/caption]The Portuguese marketing Agency Futebol Finance has published a list of the 50 highest paid footballers this year, and guess who’s number one on the list?

Yes, it’s Mr Cristiano Ronaldo. He has won from the beginning . Barcelona’s Argentine play maker Lionel Messi only comes third on the list…

Here’s the top 20 list :

1. Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid, £11.3million)                                                        

2. Zlatan Ibrahimovic (Barcelona, £10.4million)

3. Lionel Messi (Barcelona, £9.1million)

4. Samuel Eto’o (Internazionale, £9.1million)

5. Kaka (Real Madrid, £8.7million)

6. Emmanuel Adebayor (Manchester City, £7.4million)

7. Karim Benzema (Real Madrid, £7.4million)

From Reuters Images

8. Carlos Tevez (Manchester City, £7million)

9. John Terry (Chelsea, £6.5million)

10. Frank Lampard (Chelsea, £6.5million)

11. Thierry Henry (Barcelona, £6.5million)

12. Xavi (Barcelona, £6.5million)

13. Ronaldinho (AC Milan, £6.5million)

14. Steven Gerrard (Liverpool, £6.5million)

15. Daniel Alves (Barcelona, £6.1million)

16. Michael Ballack (Chelsea, £5.6million)

17. Raul (Real Madrid, £5.6million)

18. Rio Ferdinand (Manchester United, £5.6million)

19. Kolo Toure (Manchester City, £5.6million)

20. Wayne Rooney (Manchester United, £5.2million)

Real Madrid’s Goalkeeper Iker Cassilas and Lassana Diarra are listed 22nd and 45th respectively. Liverpool’s prolific goal scorer Fernando Torres is 34th on the list. Meanwhile, former Manchester United, Real Madrid, and L.A Galaxy player David Beckham has only been ranked 43rd.

Perhaps it is surprising to see only 5 Real Madrid players in the list. Maybe next season, Gonzalo Higuain will be included in this chart alongside Karim Benzema, hopefully.

Derbyanabella, Footballfantalk.com