'%20x='0'%20y='0'%20height='100%25'%20width='100%25'%20%0A%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20xlink%3Ahref='data:image/jpg;base64,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'%3E%3C/image%3E%3C/svg%3E)
#3 Winning second-most Ballons d'Or in history
Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi are regarded as the poster boys of a generation of football. Naturally, their rivalry has been one of the themes of the sport for well over a decade now, a rivalry considered one of the greatest in sport, let alone football.
Trending
Their battle for more Ballons d'Or has been well-documented and is enthralling, to say the least. While Ronaldo opened the metaphorical scoring between the two greats, Messi took control of the podium and was crowned as the best in the world for four successive seasons between 2009 and 2012. While Ronaldo recovered miraculously and saw their tally level with five apiece, their duopoly was broken by Luka Modric in the year that Croatia reached the FIFA World Cup final.
Lionel Messi made history after winning his sixth in 2019, leaving Ronaldo in second place as the player with the second-most number of Ballons d'Or. The Portuguese icon would hope to win another before he retires.
Nonetheless, five in itself is a breathtaking achievement, given that it is at least two more than anyone else in history not named Lionel Messi.
#2 Winning league titles and UCLs with multiple clubs
Winning a UEFA Champions League title and a league title is an honour for some players, while for those like Cristiano Ronaldo, it has come to become the norm, the expectation. The Juventus striker fired his side to their ninth successive Scudetto, his second in as many years in Turin.
This made him the only player to win a minimum of two league titles in each of the Serie A, LaLiga Santander and Premier League. Ronaldo's Juventus teammate Danilo also achieved a similar record with the recent title win. However, he has only one apiece of Serie A and LaLiga titles, while Ronaldo has a minimum of two. Ronaldo won three Premier League titles on the spin under Sir Alex Ferguson at Manchester United, and two at Real Madrid.
He also won the UCL with two clubs — the Red Devils and Los Blancos — and is hopeful of winning it with a third separate club at Juventus. Should he do so, he will be only the second player after Clarence Seedorf to win it with three clubs. The Portuguese won four of them with Real Madrid, with three of them being a part of Zinedine Zidane's historic 'three-peat' between 2015 and 2018.
Before his move to the Spanish capital, the former Sporting CP teenager fired Manchester United to European glory in 2008 and even scored in the final against Chelsea. Ronaldo is also the only player to score in two finals and win them.
#1 International glory with Portugal
Perhaps the only notable form of criticism faced by both Ronaldo and his counterpart Messi is their lack of international glory with Portugal and Argentina respectively. The latter came painfully close to sealing his status as the undisputed greatest player of all time with a FIFA World Cup final appearance in 2014, but ended up on the losing side as Germany were crowned champions of the world.
Two years later, Ronaldo helped Portugal achieve something that they never had in their history despite possessing a glorious list of footballers among their ranks. He helped the Selecao to their first-ever international trophy as Fernando Santos' men won the UEFA European Championship in 2016 after beating France in their backyard. The striker ended the tournament as the joint-second highest scorer with three goals, behind Player of the Tournament Antoine Griezmann.
Three years after their legendary Euro 2016 win, Ronaldo, who sat out the preliminary fixtures in Portugal's League of Nations campaign, entered the fray in the semi-final. He announced his arrival with a breathtaking hat-trick in the penultimate game against Switzerland, including two late goals to seal their spot in the final. Santos' men eventually prevailed victorious in the final, making it the second international trophy Portugal won in the CR7 era.
Regardless of his endless list of achievements in club football, Ronaldo will also be remembered as the player who finally helped end Portugal's wait for a taste of international glory.
Also read: Record-breaking Ronaldo: 5 records the Juventus striker smashed in 2019/20
