RONALDO ON THE SHORTLIST

Cristiano Ronaldo is one among the three players short-listed for the Ballon d’Or award given out every season. This is one of the most prestigious awards given out in the season and Cristiano Ronaldo has been nominated for this award due to the impressive form he has shown in the current year.

Cristiano Ronaldo has been nominated for the Ballon d’Or award during various stages of his career and has also won this award during his Manchester United days. He is, however, yet to win the trophy as a Real Madrid player mainly because of the dominance of Lionel Messi in recent seasons.

Lionel Messi is once again amongst the compatriots for the award along with his Barcelona teammate Xavi. Messi has won the award two times in the last three years. He has won it in 2009 and in 2010. He is once again the favourite for the title this season as well having won the Champions League with Barcelona. Cristiano Ronaldo, on the other hand, has not been able to lift any major trophies with Real Madrid, and is expected to lose out to his Barcelona compatriot. However, Cristiano Ronaldo has won this award back in 2008, while he came extremely close to winning it in 2007 and 2009.

“It’s great to win individual awards, especially the prestigious ones, but what comes first for me is winning matches and titles.” Messi said. “It’s great to be again nominated as one of the Fifa Ballon d’Or final three contenders,” Cristiano Ronaldo said on his Twitter account. The winner of this award will be announced by FIFA on January 9th. A number of journalists and coaches will be joining together to vote for this award. Cristiano Ronaldo has scored 53 goals for Real Madrid this calendar year.