5 reasons why Cristiano Ronaldo will beat Lionel Messi to BEST FIFA Award

#4 Peaking when it mattered most

Cristiano Ronaldo celebrates his third goal in that virtuoso semifinal performance against Atletico

In the first nine games of last season, Cristiano Ronaldo netted just one goal... in the matches that followed (and despite starring in the Club World Cup) the great man looked a shadow of his old self... losing control of the ball too often, not finding his feet well enough to dribble even a few metres, shooting haphazardly from all over the place - it would have been easy to write him off, and many did.

But they simply hadn't realised the sheer mental resolve of the man and he peaked when his team needed him most, playing some of the best football of his career and he ended up with 25 La Liga goals in 29 games and 12 Champions League goals in 13 (10 of them coming in the last 5)