4 things that could prevent Cristiano Ronaldo from winning the Ballon d'Or this year

#3 No World Cup glory

Despite a good start, the Portuguese failed on the biggest stage once again

The World Cup, often described as the mother of all football competitions took place in Russia this year, with 32 national teams going head-to-head in a battle to become world champions. With the tournament recognized as the grandest stage of all, there is no doubt that it will play a significant role in determining the winner of the Ballon d'Or this year.

The competition featured many incredible superstars and fortunately, Cristiano Ronaldo was one of them. The attacker had a brilliant start in Russia, bagging a fantastic hat-trick against Spain, following that up with another impressive winner against Iran in the second match.

However, that was as good as it got for the Portuguese and his team. Portugal scored an uninspiring draw against Morocco in the final group game where Ronaldo missed a penalty costing his team a chance to finish as group winners.

This meant Portugal got a tough round of 16 draw against Uruguay. An anonymous display from the Portuguese captain and a Cavani-inspired showing meant Portugal had to pack their bags at the round of 16.

Elsewhere, the likes of Mbappe, Griezmann and Modric were having incredible tournaments in Russia, leading their teams into the latter stages of the tournament and thereby becoming strong contenders for the Ballon d'Or. Some of these superstars ended up winning the trophy and will pose serious threats to Ronaldo's chances of winning the Ballon d'Or this year.