According to Spanish daily Mundo Deportivo they have had access to a leaked report that claims that Cristiano Ronaldo is the winner of the Ballon d'Or.
The Portuguese superstar was widely tipped to win the award, but as per Francesc Aguilar – a well-connected journalist with the Barcelona-based sports daily, the announcement revealing Cristiano Ronaldo as the winner will be made at 7 PM GMT on Monday (early hours of Tuesday morning, here in India) and the following day France Football – the publication that founded the prize – will publish an exclusive interview.
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He has also revealed that staff from France Football will fly to Madrid on Thursday to conduct the interview and take photographs depicting the Real Madrid superstar being awarded the trophy – the Golden ball.
Cristiano Ronaldo had an outstanding 2016 – winning the UEFA Champions League (his third overall, and second with Real Madrid) and finally breaking his international jinx by helping Portugal break their duck and claim the EURO 2016 crown. He was top scorer in the UEFA Champions League with 16 goals (and also scored the winning penalty in the shootout against rivals Atletico Madrid)
From Monday evening their magazine L'Equipe will start revealing the votes that each of the 30 players on the shortlist have gotten. The usual suspects were in the front running for the award – apart from Ronaldo, Lionel Messi was also tipped for the award – especially by his former boss.
Former Barcelona president Joan Gaspart claimed this week that “to say that Cristiano Ronaldo is the best player in the world is to be very ignorant."
“Messi is the best, and I’m not just saying that because I signed him."
Leo had had another fruitful year, guiding his side to a league and cup double – he scored 26 goals in La Liga in what proved to be one of the tightest finishes in recent years. While he couldn't add international glory to his overflowing cabinet, he did captain his nation to the final of the Copa America Centenario – their third final in a major international tournament in so many years. He also notched up yet another personal record – overtaking Gabriel Batistuta as top scorer for La Albiceleste.
Antoine Griezmann was another frontrunner for the title – He was instrumental in guiding France to the final of the EURO 2016 on home soil – pulling the strings in his role just behind the centre-forward. It is role that he has perfected under Diego Simeone – and at Atletico Madrid, the Griezmann had great success, finishing as the club's top scorer and helping them to finish third in a tight La Liga title race, while only narrowly missing out on getting the UEFA Champions League crown – losing it on penalties to Ronaldo's Real Madrid.
These three had been shortlisted as the nominees for the FIFA BEST Award – which will be announced on Jan the 9th. The Ballon d'Or meanwhile had included Barcelona's superstars Luis Suarez and Neymar, Real Madrid and Wales megastar Gareth Bale and Manchester United's Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Paul Pogba.
Do you think Cristiano deserves to win the award this year?
