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#3 Ronaldo was Europe’s top scorer
Cristiano Ronaldo may not have led Real Madrid to the La Liga title, but in the end, he still managed to emerge top scorer in Europe in all competitions. This was despite a poor start to the season, which saw him score just two league goals between September and January.
However, the 33-year-old was backfiring at all cylinders at the turn of the year, with his goals in the Champions League, especially distinguishing him from all other rivals. The former Manchester United winger finished the Champions League with 15 goals, once again becoming the competition’s top scorer.
If this is not enough to win him the UEFA Best Player award, then what else did he need to do? How a player with such numbers could still have lost out on the award is mystifying. In the last decade, the only time that other players have won this award over Ronaldo and Messi was either during a Euros tournament or a season when both failed to lift the Champions League.
In 2012, Andres Iniesta won the UEFA Best Player not because he outperformed Messi, but because he won the European Championship with Spain. The following year when Franck Ribery won it, it was equally because he spearheaded Bayern Munich’s run to the Champions League trophy.
Modric’s impact in the European year under review (emphasis on the European year) is nowhere close to what Iniesta and Ribery did to warrant the award, and that should have meant Ronaldo winning it.
