Five-time winner Ronaldo could only finish third in this year’s standings and he missed the awards ceremony in Paris to pick up his Serie A Player of the Year honour in Milan on the same night.
The 34-year-old now trails Messi by one in the number of Ballon d’or wins.
Ronaldo won the Serie A title in his debut season with Juventus, scoring 28 goals across all competitions and also helped Portugal win the inaugural UEFA Nations League in the summer.
Taking to Instagram on Wednesday, Rodriguez wrote: 'Incomparable, Unstoppable, brave.
'There are figures and titles, of all this you are the protagonist with the best results, such as: the League of Nations, the Italian Cup, the Serie A Championship, Best Player of the Serie A, among others.
'But fortunately neither the awards nor the titles speak only for you, even if you have a lot of them.
'What speaks best about you is yourself, your passion, your hunger for self-improvement, your fellowship, because you are the inspiration of Soccer and Sport for millions and millions of people.
'You are not afraid of the challenges, you leave your comfort zone and you continue surpassing yourself and showing the world what it is like to be No 1. I love you.'
Juventus surrendered top spot to Inter Milan in Serie A with a 2-2 draw with Sassuolo over the weekend.
