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The former Manchester United and Real Madrid star lost the FIFA Ballon d’Or once again as the Barcelona star, Lionel Andrés Messi, won his fourth consecutive award. Leo Messi, in 2012, scored 91 goals, surpassing the 75 goals in a calendar year milestone set by Pele in 1958 , and also broke the record of Bayern Munich and German legend, Gerd Muller, of scoring 85 goals in a calendar year. Leo Messi deserved to win his fourth Ballon d’Or but here are the reasons why Cristiano Ronaldo dos Santos Aveiro deserved it more. Let’s have a look at them:
Helped Real Madrid C.F to win La Liga:
Cristiano Ronaldo last season scored 50 goals and helped Real Madrid win the La Liga title with a record points tally. He scored in most of the matches and helped them to stay consistently on the top of the league table. He also scored the winner (2-1) against Barcelona in the El Clasico at Camp Nou.
Helped Real Madrid win Supercopa de Espana:
In the first leg of Supercopa de Espana, Cristiano Ronaldo scored a goal in the 55th minute to equalize Pedro’s goal at the Camp Nou. But Real Madrid lost the first leg as Messi and Xavi scored a goal each. Di Maria scored a goal in the 85th minute. The first leg favoured Barcelona with a 3-2 win over Real Madrid in their home ground. In the second leg, Higuain scored in 11th minute to give Real Madrid an early lead. Ronaldo struck in the 19th minute to give Real Madrid a 2-0 lead. Messi scored a goal in 45th minute and the match ended with a 4-4 aggregate. Real Madrid won as they had more away goals. Cristiano Ronaldo had scored 2 goals of the four goals that Real Madrid had scored in Supercopa de Espana.
Crisitano Ronaldo with his team mate Pepe holding Supercopa DeEspana trophy
Helped Real Madrid reach UEFA Champions League semi final:
Cristiano Ronaldo struck twice in the second leg of semi finals in UEFA Champions League in season 2011-12. The aggregate was 3-3 as Bayern Munich had scored twice in the first leg and Real Madrid remained with one goal. In the second leg, Ronaldo gave Real Madrid an early lead but soon Robben scored a penalty in the 27th minute. Unfortunately, Real Madrid lost on penalties (3-1) and Bayern Munich were on their journey to the finals.
Helped Portugal reach Euro Semi Finals:
The captain helped his country i.e Portugal to reach the semi finals in EURO 2012. He scored consistently to help them reach semi finals. But unfortunately they lost against Spain on penalties even before Ronaldo got a chance to strike.
Top Scorer in Euro and scored against major clubs:
Cristiano Ronaldo was joint top scorer in EURO 2012 with the German striker Mario Gomez. He scored 7 goals in the club friendlies, 4 goals in Copa del Rey, 16 goals in Primera Division, 2 goals goals in Spanish Super Cup and 6 goals in UEFA Champions League. In UEFA Champions League, he scored 4 goals against Ajax, 1 goal against the German Champions, Borussia Dortmund and 1 goal against the English Champions, Manchester City.
