Cristiano Ronaldo was rewarded for his stunning 2017 with his second FIFA 'The Best' award in as many years, defeating Lionel Messi and Neymar to the accolade.

Although the Portuguese has started slowly in 2017-18, the first-half of the year saw him lead Real Madrid to a third Champions League title in four years and their first La Liga win since 2012. Then throw in 44 goals and 11 assists for good measure, too.

Gianluigi Buffon collected the award for the year's best goalkeeper at the age of 39 after another sensational year with Juventus, ousting Manuel Neuer and Keylor Navas.

Zinedine Zidane became the first man to win a Ballon d'Or and then FIFA 'The Best' award for a manager after his sensational start to life in coaching.

Meanwhile, Olivier Giroud collected the Puskas Award for his scorpion against Crystal Palace in January and Celtic supporters were crowned the finest in 2017, also.

An assortment of footballing greats gathered in London to see these very awards handed out with the likes of Ronaldo, Roberto Carlos, Ruud Gullit and Peter Schmeichel suiting up on the 'green carpet.'

Also in attendance was a certain Diego Maradona who had taken in the London entertainment just a  day before when he saw Tottenham trounce Liverpool 4-1 at Wembley Stadium.

Furthermore, he was entrusted with one very important job at Monday's alongside Ronaldo - opening the envelope to announce the men's winner.

And with fans on Twitter even suspecting that Maradona was a little drunk, he nearly ruined an entire video compilation that FIFA had put on by announcing the winner early.

It took some desperate intervention from Ronaldo to amend the situation with Maradona eventually concealing the opened envelope to the amusement of the crowd.

The reaction from Neymar and Messi is class, take a look:

The pair weren't exactly laughing after the compilation, though, when Ronaldo was unveiled as the winner but there's no shame in coming second to one of the greats.

Nevertheless, it was brilliant to see so many big names in one venue and enjoying a bit of classic Maradona.

Messi will be looking to dominate the individual awards again next year, though, and the start he's made to this season shows that he's certainly on course.

Who do you think is the best player in world football? Have your say in the comments section below.