Unlucky Ribery, it looks like a champions league, Bundesliga title and a Pokal Cup will not be enough to help you win the historic Ballon D’Or. After months of trying to figure out should Ribery win the prestigious award as his team won a historic Treble, or was Messi’s end to the 2012/2013 season enough for him to seal it, Cristiano Ronaldo shows up in the clutch scoring two goals in 38 seconds to send his nation to Brazil in 2014.
In addition the news that Fifa has extended the ballot voting period until the end of the month will allow those who want to change there previous decision, which ultimately, cannot be good news for Ribéry either. Ronaldo’s display was one that the football Gods can only dream of, one matched to Messi’s at the Santiago Bernabau in 2012, or Paolo Rossi in the 1982 World Cup final and even Diego Maradona’s touch of class against England. He was simply flawless.
He was taunted and booed by the Swedes the entire night. Every time he touched the ball, dribbled, lost possession or took a ridiculous shot on goal. His performance in Stockholm was one that represents the new Ronaldo, no longer a young arrogant player who when suffering with his feet, takes it out on his teammates, stops passing the ball, and simply beating himself up in the corner of the pitch. He controlled the game on Tuesday, when Portugal was down and required a quick momentum change CR7 was there to make the difference. When Portugal rocked, he refused to allow them to tumble. He continued his impeccable club form on international duty. As Andy Brassell wrote “The scorecard may have read Zlatan 2 Cristiano 3 but the difference was much more appreciable. Ibrahimovic gives hope where there is none. Ronaldo makes the impossible possible.” Moreover, his hat-trick capped tying the all-time scoring charts for Portugal with 47 goals at the young age of 28.
Although I would still agree that so far in his career Messi has been the better of the two, as much as it pains me to say this, 2013 has been Cristiano’s year.
If you wish to watch a great documentary presented on ITV4 (U.K television) last month click here
RONALDO’S INCREDIBLE NUMBERS… by Sam Stevens
66 Ronaldo has scored an incredible 66 goals for club and country in 2013. That includes 56 goals in 46 games for Real Madrid and 10 in nine for Portugal.
8 The 28-year-old is the top scorer in the Champions League this season with eight goals, one ahead of Zlatan Ibrahimovic, and two ahead of Lionel Messi.
1.20 Goals per game ratio for Ronaldo in 2013. And it gets better if you only look at this season. He has 31 goals in 21 appearances in 2013-14. That’s 1.48 goals per game.
16 The Portuguese is also the top scorer in La Liga this season with 16 goals in 13 matches. He already has twice as many as Messi.
47 Ronaldo equalled Pauleta’s national record of 47 goals for Portugal. The forward is closing in on Bobby Charlton and Thierry Henry’s records, but has a way to go before he catches Gerd Muller (68) and Pele (77).
5 Ronaldo has outscored the Premier League’s five biggest clubs in 2013. Liverpool (61), Man City (56), Arsenal (55), Man United (54) and Chelsea (54) have all scored fewer league goals this year than Ronaldo has scored in
all competitions.
225 Since joining Real Madrid, Ronaldo has scored 225 goals in 216 games for the club. In just five years he has already become Madrid’s fifth highest scorer and is closing in on Ferenc Puskas (242, right) in fourth. [1]
Thank you for sharing about CR7 .. I like it
While I agree that Christiano Ronaldo is playing completely out of his mind, I think it is absolutely ludicrous that FIFA has extended the voting period. The Ballon d’Or is awarded to the best player over the previous season, not just the past two months. This is by no means taking anything away from CR7 and everything he has achieved both for his club and his country, and while I understand that the award is for the best player and not the best team, I still would pick Ribery. Bayern won the treble, and I do not think they could have achieved this feat without Ribery. And up until FIFA’s extension of the voting, I was convinced he would win. But FIFA showed that they want Ronaldo to win. It is as simple as that. They will claim that the voters weren’t getting their votes in on time and that they wanted to allow ample time for voters to place confident ballots. But come on. If any voter was on the fence between Ribery and Ronaldo (or Messi) and then saw Ronaldo score 4 goals to propel his team to the World Cup, who are they going to pick? The award will undoubtedly go to Ronaldo, and Ribery will look on in dismay as his wife tries to subtly fill in the spot above the fireplace she made for his award.
Although I am a Barcelona fan, I have to admit that Ronaldo has had a fantastic year giving him an edge in the Ballon D’Or race. While Messi also had gaudy numbers, Ronaldo’s impact has been unmatched in domestic, national, and club cup play. He is the undisputed leader and captain of Real Madrid and the Portugal squad. Interestingly, I would like to see how the extension for the voting period for the Ballon d’Or impacts the ballots cast. Will the voters remember the incredible duel between Ronaldo and Zlatan that secured Portugal’s place in the 2014 Fifa World Cup or will they pay attention to the magnificent year of the Frenchman Franck Ribery who won the German Bundesliga, the Champions League and the German Pokal Cup? Ribery was able to accomplish what Ronaldo has oftentimes failed to do: he handily defeated Barcelona in the Champions League semi-finals on route to claiming the treble, an incredible feat in the modern game. Dethroning Messi and company must be taken into account when voters decide on the European player of the year. Despite these team accolades garnered by Ribery and the Bayern Munich squad, Ronaldo’s individual numbers speak for themselves. He has been the captain and heartbeat for Real Madrid. While he plays for a great club squad, the current crop of talent on the Bayern Munich team are superior to Ronaldo’s teammates on Real Madrid. Accordingly, Ronaldo cannot be blamed for their domestic league and Champions League disappointments. For an honor reserved for the best individual player in Europe, Ronaldo is certainly deserving of the honor for his brilliant year.
I think this is interesting for 2 reasons. One, as we saw the voting extended, it shows the recency effect here as people remember best what happened most recently. Second, we have seen in America the huge push towards numbers and statistics meaning how successful an athlete has been, and Ronaldo’s numbers certainly support the fact that he may indeed be the best player. Very interesting.
I also watched the match between Sweden and Portugal and was just awed by the two great performances by Ibrahimovic and Ronaldo. Over the last 3 years I couldn’t help myself wonder why Messi topped Ronaldo in all the three votes. I mean Ronaldo dominated both the Premiere League and La Liga. From 03~09 when he played for ManU, Ronaldo scored a total of 118 goals in 292 matches. From 09~now, he has scored over 225 goals in 216 matches, which is almost twice what he scored for ManU, in a shorter period of time. I really do think that Ronaldo is the favorite to win the Ballon d’Or this year.
Here’s an interesting tweet between Blatter and Ronaldo.
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1830586-cristiano-ronaldos-sarcastic-reply-forces-embarrassing-sepp-blatter-apology