, Lionel
Messi has overtaken Cristiano Ronaldo of Real Madrid as the
highest paid player in the world after raking in nearly £1million a week
last year. 
Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi during last weekend El Clasico in which BArcelona triumped 2-1 over Real Madrid
And the Argentine earns almost the same again in commercial deals with blue-chip sponsors like adidas, FIFA 15 and Turkish Airline to take his total annual income to £47.8m.
Cristiano Ronaldo came second with earnings on £39.7m with Neymar completing the top three
of Spanish-based players on £26.8m.Thiago Silva of PSG comes in at third place with earning estimated at £20.2m.
The highest ranked player in the Premier League is Robin Van Persie in fifth place, who had a basic salary of £11.8m with bonuses of £5m.
Commercial revenue took his total earning to £18.8m. He is one place ahead of Gareth Bale (£17.5m) and two
in front of Wayne Rooney (£16.5m).Coming in at number eight is Zlatan Ibrahimovie of PSG with £15.8m in earnings and Robert Lewandowski at number ten with earning of £14.9m
Sergio Aguero (£15.5m) is also in the top ten at number nine.
Jose Mourinho is the highest paid coach in the world with his £10m Chelsea salary and £3.2m in commercial revenue.
Arsene Wenger (£8.3m) and Louis Van Gaal (£7.3m) are also in the top ten along with Zenit’s Andre Villas Boas (£6.25m) and David Moyes (£5.14m) now at Real Sociedad.
Ronaldo and Messi will be in top gear as their teams go head to head for the La Liga title with ten rounds left and just one point separating both teams.
Following their victory over Real Madrid at the weekend, Barcelona are one point ahead of their greatest rivals.
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