CRISTIANO RONALDO WON his fourth Ballon d’Or on Monday to get one over his nemesis Lionel Messi in their long-running duel for the title of best footballer on the planet.
It was the perfect ending to another fantastic year for the Real Madrid star, who won the Champions League for the second time in three seasons and then led Portugal to their first major title at Euro 2016 — albeit he went off early injured and in tears in the surprise win over France.
As has been the case for almost a decade now, the 31-year-old’s main rival was Messi — but the Barcelona and Argentine maestro had to relinquish the crown after a less-than-stellar year for club and country by his lofty standards.
Never one to play down his achievements, Ronaldo was spotted midweek in training having dyed his hair gold in anticipation and several media outlets published a photo earlier on Monday appearing to confirm he was the winner, before France Football made the official announcement.
Ronaldo is now one Ballon d’Or behind last year’s winner Messi.
“For me there is no debate. The Ballon will be for him,” Real Madrid coach Zinedine Zidane said after his talisman’s hat-trick saw off Atletico Madrid last month to underpin Real’s domination in La Liga.
“He showed it last season and he shows it again and again. We expect a lot of him but he stands above everyone.”
Despite such effusive praise Ronaldo, rested at the weekend ahead of the Club World Cup in Japan, has had some negative headlines in the past week — not least pertaining to accusations of tax evasion.
Denying any wrongdoing, he responded by publishing his financial records on Thursday, showing last year he earned a bumper 227 million euros.
“You believe I am worried? He who owes nothing, fears nothing,” Ronaldo told broadcaster RTP.
Ronaldo first won the Ballon d’Or in 2008 after Premier League and Champions League triumphs with Manchester United.
But it was only in 2013 that he added his second — Messi had hogged it before then — and Ronaldo made it a hat-trick the following year.
The first Ballon d’Or was won by Stanley Matthews, at the time with Blackpool, who beat Alfredo Di Stefano for the inaugural title in 1956.
This year marks the end of six years of joint awards by founders France Football and FIFA, which will revert to bestowing a “Best” accolade of its own on January 9 to both male and female players.
The Ballon d’Or will henceforth be decided by a vote of 173 journalists while national team captains and managers will no longer have a say.
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I trust Joe. He is at the centre of everything. He is also the best and really knows best.
One of the beauties of having Joe Schmidt as head coach – the first world class head coach, with the exception of Warren Gatland, that Ireland has ever had – is that he has created a system in which every player in the squad can slot into seamlessly. Everybody knows their role and what is expected. Unlike previous Irish head coaches, such as embittered ones currently employed by RTE, Joe Schmidt can see the bigger picture in the World Cup: he doesn’t panic and send out old reliables, who are not fully fit, in the first match. Joe Schmidt’s dispassionate and beautifully professional approach is what has seen Ireland enter the Rugby World Cup as the Number One ranked team in the world, an incredible achievement which shows Joe Schmidt’s ability, unique among Irish head coaches, of getting Ireland ready to peak at the right time.
Joe Schmidt’s Ireland’s confident, back-to-back defeats of Wales in the RWC warm-ups were not only important for proving which team had the greater strength in depth, but were timely in the event of a potential meeting with Wales in the World Cup semi-finals. Those results proved, yet again, lest any of the doubters and begrudgers had any doubts, Joe Schmidt’s permanent class. Schmidt and his team have given Irish supporters a sweet gift in the run-in to the RWC: the great pleasure of clicking on the World Rugby website and seeing Ireland ranked on top of the world, even before we go on to lift the Webb Ellis trophy!
@J. Reid:
We are not number 1 in the world :: NZ ::: S A :: England ::Ireland/Wales
But it will be nice to look back at the numbers in 5 years’ time to see we were No. 1 in the world in September 2019 (the number will still be there and the memory will have slipped )
@J. Reid: Stan
@Martin Quinn: Why do you constantly use colons in your posts? It’s really odd.
Our pack is superior, but the backrow battle will be immense, need to nullify Barclay & Watson.
Fingers crossed our lineout functions properly.
Looking forward to seeing Conway & Larmour, hope their eagerness to impress doesn’t lead to any brain farts though. Conway is fearless contesting the high ball, but sometimes mistimes & takes the jumper out in the air. We can’t afford to be down to 14 men.
Seems pretty silly to have Carty come off the bench with McGrath, when Marmion, Carty and Aki have a telepathy between them and would be playing at the same time. Anyhow, hope McGrath has a stormer and makes me eat my words with regards him being picked ahead of Marms.
@Joe Vlogs: Well he couldn’t come off the bench with Marmion as he’s not in the squad. If Joe sees McGrath as the better option for whatever reason, be it he thinks he’s a better player or Marmion hasn’t been fully fit, it would have made little sense to bring a scrum half to the world cup that he didn’t fancy just because he’s bringing his club mate as what will most likely be 3rd choice fly half as the tournament progresses.
@Joe Vlogs: or maybe McGrath has the same with sexton Ross Byrne , henshaw, larmour Kearney etc. it’s Ireland playing not a bunch of mates who play down the road
I trust Joe. He is at the centre of everything and, with his intimate knowledge of everything rugby and his excellant judgement, seldom if ever lets us down.
Looks like he throwing the first match
@Colm: how do you figure that
Conway should be playing full back.
front row will put pressure on Scots.
overall pack will dominate Scotland.
must stop Hogg on gain line.
Hopefully Stockdale won’t jump out of the line
@john fleming: I disagree, he’s great in the air but runs the ball back which is great but too frequently gets turned over…unlike Kearney and to a lesser extent unlike Larmour. Ball presentation is key in that position with little room for error. He had a great game against Wales but did see him turnover ball twice against Wales
Realistically I think we all expected this starting 15. Some might have put Conway at 15 and Larmour on the wing, I would have too, but it’s obvious that Joe sees Larmour as a better option there than Conway. Because of injuries the backs pretty much picked themselves. He’s also gone with the tried and tested in the backrow. In the absence of Toner I think it’s fair to say that POM will start all the big games when fit for his lineout prowess. Leaving Stander and Conan to fight it out for number 8. Only real surprise might be Scannel on the bench instead of Cronin but Scannel is a good player and is my bet for the starting hooker come the 6 nations. Looking at both teams and not permitting for weird weather I think Ireland will have too much for Scotland. Ireland by 10
I probably would of preferred Conway at fullback but to be fair, larmour has been our back up fullback to Kearney and it would of been a slap in the face to larmour if he didn’t start him there. It’s a very potent back 3 but I just have a small fear of that 3 defensively but coybig!!!!
Wales/England would look to exploit recent aerial form and set piece worries, but don’t think the Scots like playing tactics, they wont switch up their formula and will just hope Russell doesn’t have a howler. Cracker of a game hopefully.
With Kearney fully fit I would expect a 7-12 point win but without him it will be a nailbiter. Can see Laidlaw and Russell sending deep box kicks and garryowens for Hogg, Maitland and Seymour to test Larmour all day.