Speaking at a ceremony honouring the long-serving members of Real Madrid, club president Florentino Perez revealed that he believes Cristiano Ronaldo deserves to win the Ballon d’Or owing to his performances for club and country over the course of the last 12 months.
The man who has been deemed responsible for ushering in the era of Los Galacticos also claimed that Ronaldo has already proven his worth at the club and is a legend who follows in the footsteps of greats such as Alfredo Di Stefano.
Ronaldo is a club legend, says Perez
Perez, who has been at the heart of numerous big money transfer in recent years, claimed that the 31-year-old was a deserved winner of the prestigious trophy and he expected the Portuguese to bring his 4th Ballon d’Or to the Santiago Bernabeu in the next fortnight.
Also read: Ryan Giggs reveals Cristiano Ronaldo is the best player he has ever played with
Perez was quoted as saying that Ronaldo “ought to win his fourth Ballon d'Or” and added that “Cristiano has become one of our greatest legends, the highest goalscorer in our history and a worthy successor to our beloved Alfredo Di Stéfano."
Ronaldo played a crucial role in his club winning their record 11th UEFA Champions League trophy in 2016, ending as the tournament’s top scorer and also finding the back of the net in the penalty shootout before leading Portugal to their first ever Euro title in France and his contributions have been marked for greatness and several pundits and former players have backed him to take home the trophy.
Stiff competition from Messi, Suarez, Neymar and others
If odds are any indication of which way the trophy is going on 13th December, then Ronaldo is the leading favourite with bookmakers predicting a victory for him ahead of the likes of Lionel Messi, Neymar, Luis Suarez, Antoine Griezmann and 25 other superstars who have grabbed the footballing headlines for the right reasons over the course of the last 12 months.
The Portuguese superstar, who won his previous Ballon d’Ors in 2008, 2013 and 2014 has finished 2nd best to Argentina and Barcelona man Lionel Messi in the previous 2 seasons. However, despite Messi continuing to mesmerise us with his glorious performances in front of the goal, Ronaldo has been instrumental in helping his sides achieve continental glory and it would be deemed prudent to believe that he deserves the award ahead of the others nominated.
Ballon d’Or ended its 5-year long association with FIFA meaning the 2016 winner will not be chosen by captains and coaches of national teams, but by an exclusive set of journalists and we cannot wait to see who has impressed the involved parties the most come December.
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