Luongo thought Ballon d'Or nod was a joke

Massimo Luongo was one of the shocks on the leaked
FIFA Ballon d'Or list and he admits he thought it was a
joke at first.

QPR and Australia midfielder Massimo Luongo has admitted he
thought it was a joke when he was named on the leaked list of
nominees for the Ballon d'Or.

The 59-man longlist appeared in the European press last week
and contained several surprises, with on-loan AFC Bournemouth
winger Christian Atsu, Arsenal's David Ospina and Luongo all
included.

The 23-year-old, who only moved to Loftus Road from League
One's Swindon Town in May, described his inclusion alongside
holder Cristiano Ronaldo and favourite Lionel Messi as "a bit
random".

"I didn't even know if it was real … I thought it was someone
trying to be funny," he said ahead of Australia's clash with
Jordan this week.

"It's obviously a big honour, not many people get on it, I can say
I've been on the Ballon d'Or list now. I don't know what to say
about it … it's a bit random."

Luongo, who was the driving force behind the Socceroos'
triumph at the Asian Cup in January and scored in the 2-1 final
victory over South Korea, added: "The boys are taking the p*** a
little bit, I do myself as well.

"If it was something like a big move or something, the media
attention would play on my mind a little bit but this [doesn't
affect me] maybe because I've got no chance of winning it."