Cristiano Ronaldo has been the recipient of the last two FIFA Ballon d’Or awards, which is seen as the ultimate glory for a footballer. However, there are those who do not see the award in the same prestige and one of them is Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger.
The Frenchman believes that individual awards in a collective sport make people extremely selfish and this is something that should be eradicated from the game. This may be true to some extent since several people have been critical of Ronaldo and his furious passion to score more goals even at the expense of his team’s success on occasions.
Ronaldo dismisses those claims but he admits that there are people who will have different opinions in football. The Portuguese superstar needs only one moreBallon d’Or award to equal Lionel Messi, who is the current record holder with four titles. The award came into existence just under a decade ago when it was combined with the FIFA world Player of the Year title. Since it came into the new form, Messi and Ronaldo have shared the awards between each other. This time around, it will be difficult for Ronaldo to retain the award since he has been having a below-average season by his standards.
“I would go for nobody because it’s not my problem at the moment. It’s a debate that is always very difficult. I think the modern world is too much about individuals and we as managers are more worried about the collective. I’m not too much of a fan. I’m against the Ballon d’Or. I’m against all these things,” said Wenger about the award.”[Those are his] opinions. I respect opinions but that’s it,” replied Ronaldo for the comments made by the Frenchman. Last season, Ronaldo scored more than 50 goals in all competitions.