Cristiano
Moreaccolades...RonaldowontheSpanish
SuperCupandChampionsLeaguein 2017 2017 WORLDPLAYEROFTHEYEAR Points
CristianoRonaldo(RealMadrid & Portugal) 715
LionelMessi(Barcelona& Argentina) 663
Neymar(Barcelona/ParisSaint-Germain&Brazil) 437
LukaModric(RealMadrid & Croatia) 237
GianluigiBuffon(Juventus& Italy) 205
HarryKane(TottenhamHotspur& England) 181
RobertLewandowski(Bayern Munich& Poland) 162
KevinDeBruyne(Manchester City & Belgium) 152
ToniKroos(RealMadrid&Germany) 146
SergioRamos(RealMadrid & Spain) 143
Ronaldo
CristianoRonaldoofRealMadridandPortugalisWorldSoccer’s
WorldPlayeroftheYearfor 2 01 7.Heleda cleansweep,with his
clubsidebeingvoted WorldTeamofthe Yearandtheircoach
ZinedineZidane a clearchoiceasWorldManageroftheYear.
RonaldoscoredtwiceasRealMadridwona record-extending 12 th
EuropeanChampionsCupwitha4-1 victoryover JuventusinCardiff.
Indoing so theybecame thefirst clubtoretainthetrophy sincethe
ChampionsLeaguegroup-stageformatwasintroducedandthefirst
teamtosuccessfullydefendtheEuropeanCup sinceMilanin 19 90.
Ronaldo,whoalsoscoredtheonlygoalasRealMadridagainwon
theClubWorldCup,retainedtheawardahead of hisgreatrivalLionel
Messiandhasnow wontheawardforarecord fifthtime.Hisprevious
successeswerein 20 08, 2013 , 2 014 and 2016.
Ronaldowill turn 33 in Februaryanditremainsto be seenwhether
hecanstayatthe topofthe worldgame.Hisrecentassertionthathe
isthe world’s best-everplayerwasmet with emphaticresistancefrom
DiegoMaradona.“Tellhimtostopf*****garound,” saidtheArgentinian,
whoremindedhis interviewer of otherswithclaimstothetitle.“I didn’t
seemuch,butI lovedwhatI sawfromDiStefano,Cruyff,Messimaybe...”
Therewillalways be thosewhoclaimCristianoisnoteventhe best
Ronaldotohaveplayedfor RealMadrid. Buttheclutchofindividual
awardsthathavebeenbestoweduponhimensurehisplaceinthe
recordbooks.
In 20 17,Ronaldoplayeda keyroleinMadrid’s
ChampionsLeaguesuccessandis nowtheclub’s
all-timerecord scorer. Butat33,thissummer’s
WorldCupwilllikely be hislast chanceto landthe
oneprizethathaseludedhimduringhiscareer.
AndhisinfluenceatMadridcouldalsobe
startingtowane,withtheclub’spursuitofKylian
Mbappelastsummerandthepersistentrumours
linkingthemwith a movefor Neymarsuggesting
thatRealarenowlookingtopaytop-dollarfor
thenextgenerationofsuperstars.
Inmany waysRonaldoandRealMadridhave
beena perfectpartnership.DuringFlorentino
Perez’spresidency, acommitmenttogalactico
playershasallowedaplayerwhodelights in
individualgloryto flourish.