5 reasons why Gareth Bale will never win the Ballon d'Or

#3 - Playing in Cristiano Ronaldo's shadow

This is absolutely no dig against Cristiano Ronaldo. The Portuguese star has demonstrated on numerous occasions that he is a team-player by all means, and has never hesitated to allow Gareth Bale taking free kicks on his preferred right-hand side, which suggests that Ronaldo is not trying to minimize his teammate's importance.

However, Cristiano will always remain Real Madrid's face and number one star, as long as he is still at the peak of his footballing abilities, running the show and deciding games on the big occasions. In other words, he is the main man at the champions of Europe.

The spotlight will still be on him, in the foreseeable future. If Bale has the priority of winning individual awards over trophies, then he would be better-off leaving the club. But this would essentially depend on the player's will, and everything hints that at the moment, he is happy with his current status at Madrid.