It was finally the night of stars where whole world witnessed all the finest soccer talents assembled at one place and guess what it was Real Madrid’s Cristiano Ronaldo who eventually won his fourth career Ballon d’Or award standing him only second to the Messi to win as many titles. This is noteworthy that this season has been brilliant for the Portuguese who helped both his club and national side win championship league as well European title that happens to be the first for Portugal and by winning this award Ronaldo has proved why he is the most lethal forward in contemporary soccer. He won his last three titles back in 2008 and then in 2013 and last one happened was in 2014 and with current one, he surpassed all other players leaving only his arch rival Messi who has ever been a tight competition and if his current form continues in this season as well, he can surely level the title feats of Messi who has won Ballon d’Or for five times.
He shared his pleasure after receiving the much awaited award and said, “It is a special moment. It means that all my sacrifice was worth it. I feel very happy to win this. I worked very hard. A lot of people helped me get here, and it is not easy to get here. You can count on one hand players who maintain this level year after year. I am one of them, and that is a source of pride for me.”
If we talk about Messi, he ended as the runner up for this year which happens to be the fourth time in his career after also winning the award in 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012 and 2015. His last year feats include La Liga and the Copa del Rey with Barcelona and Argentina’s qualification to the Copa America Centenario final in 2016. Likewise, if we look at the club who have been most successful with Ballon d’, Barcelona is obviously on top with as many as eleven awards to its players and they are closely followed by arch rival Real Madrid who has nine such titles along with AC Milan and Juventus.
Another interesting fact about the Player of the Year is that Messi and Ronaldo are the only ones to share this award among them back since 2007 when Kaka won the prize which shows the level of dominance these two players enjoyed last decade in contemporary soccer.
Cristiano Ronaldo: Marcos Mesa Sam Wordley / Shutterstock.com