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What's the story?
After winning the inaugural BEST FIFA Men's Player of the Year 2016, Cristiano Ronaldo walked away with the award this time around as well in a star-studded event that FIFA hosted at the Palladium Theatre
In case you didn't know
Cristiano Ronaldo, of course, did power Real Madrid to their first La Liga-Champions League double since 1957-58... his goals in the latter stages of the European competition and the vital La Liga matches proving crucial.
That is, of course, not to even mention his heroics in the Club World Cup where he top-scored for the eventual Champions
The heart of the matter
Lionel Messi bagged the second position ahead of former colleague Neymar but Cristiano Ronaldo won it by a fair margin - with all sorts of former players, journalists, current players, coaches and fans having voted on the nominees.
Author's Take
Like I had written earlier here, the one accusation that had been leveled at Cristiano Ronaldo as he became the potent goal-scorer that he is today at Madrid was that he was becoming more, and more, selfish by the game.
Which in turn was costing the team precious points, and tying the hands of managers who had to struggle to get the most of what was always a hugely talented squad.
Last season, though, Cristiano Ronaldo emerged a real leader, a proper team player who hugged the touchline when asked to, tracked back doggedly (most noticeably in the first leg of Madrid's entertaining quarter with Bayern), played off Karim Benzema's, Isco's, Toni Kroos', Luka Modric's and Marco Asensio's undoubted ability allowing them to flourish on their own individual levels, listened to Zidane when the great Frenchman told him that rest was the need for the hour - his dedication to the team's cause, something that often used to get blinded due to his hunger for personal glory (and that whole "let's see who scores more goals this season" competition with Leo Messi).. and that is certainly worthy of great admiration.
