The stakes now stand at five each!
That is the amount of times that both Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi have won football’s greatest individual prize - the Ballon D’or.
Tonight however, in Paris, all eyes were on Ronaldo as he claimed his fifth golden trophy, the Portuguese superstar guided Real Madrid to an unprecedented treble of La Liga, Copa del Rey and Champions League glory in 2017.
Between 2009 - 2015, France Football magazine and FIFA worked together to name the player recognised as the planet's best. Since last year however, there is no more collaboration, as the former partners went their separate ways. This years FIFA awards which were held in October, at FIFA HQ, Zurich, Ronaldo was named 'The Best' by his peers.
5 - @Cristiano has won 3 of the last 4 Ballon d'Or to equal Lionel Messi (5 each) as the player with the most editions won ever. Leyend pic.twitter.com/IpPlZDyKiT
— OptaJose (@OptaJose) December 7, 2017
Real Madrid became the first side claim the Champions League back-to-back for the first time since AC Milan achieved the same feat in the 1989-90 season.
Ronaldo scored 12 goals in last season’s competition, 10 of which came in the knockout stages, including two successive hat tricks against Bayern Munich and city rivals Atletico Madrid and two in the final against Juventus as Madrid romped home to a 4-1 victory in the San Siro, Milan.
Madrid manager Zinedine Zidane used Ronaldo sparingly in La Liga, featuring in 29 league games but that didn’t stop the ever-prolific forward chipping in with 25 league goals on their way to La Liga glory.
Ronaldo played a total of 56 games, scoring 49 goals, 13 assists, while winning four trophies along the way. A truly outstanding achievement from an exceptional player. We may rue the day when him and his nemesis retire as it is extremely plausible it is possible we may never see the likes of them in our lifetime.
Next year Ronaldo will be 33, while Messi will be 32, the race is on of their final lap to see which one of them can claim the most Ballon D’or crowns before retirement.
Ballon D'or 2017 Top 10
10. Harry Kane - Tottenham
9. Robert Lewandowski - Bayern Munich
8. N'Golo Kante - Chelsea
7. Kylian M'bappe - PSG
6. Sergio Ramos - Real Madrid
5. Luka Modric - Real Madrid
4. Gianluigi Buffon - Juventus
3. Neymar - PSG
2. Lionel Messi - Barcelona
- Cristiano Ronaldo
