The Portuguese superstar is only the
10th player to become a multiple
winner of football’s most prestigious
individual prize, and his place in
history is now secure.
Lionel Messi, Johan Cruyff, Michel Platini,
Marco van Basten, Alfredo Di Stefano,
Franz Beckenbauer, Kevin Keegan, the
Brazilian Ronaldo, Karl-Heinz
Rummenigge – these luminaries all share
one thing in common: they collected the
Ballon d’Or on more than one occasion.
Following Cristiano Ronaldo’s crowning
as the 2013 Fifa Ballon d’Or winner in
Zurich on Monday, the Real Madrid
lynchpin has now joined this special club
and in the process earned himself a
reputation as a legend of the sport.
The
attacker probably recognised this himself
as he broke down in tears upon collecting
the prize.
To win the Ballon d’Or once – as 33
individuals have managed, starting with
Stanley Matthews in the inaugural edition
in 1956 right up until Kaka in 2007 - is
certainly a magnificent achievement, but
it doesn’t necessarily catapult a footballer
to all-time greatness.
After all, neither
1986 victor Igor Belanov – a flash in the
pan with Dynamo Kiev and the Soviet
Union – nor England’s 2001 champion
Michael Owen can be considered among
the best the game has had to offer.
To claim the Ballon d’Or twice or more is
to maintain frequent levels of brilliance at
the very highest level, something that
Ronaldo achieved not only in 2013 but
consistently over a number of seasons.
Until a few years ago, Ronaldo was a
player who split opinion. In some
quarters, he was considered a flat-track
bully; a forward who would crush lesser
opponents but would often come up short
on the biggest stage and against the best
opponents. Until 2011, this was a view
even held by this writer.
Ronaldo had under-performed in the key
matches at successive World Cups and at
Euro 2008, and his knock-out record in
the Champions League – barring a final
goal against Chelsea that was followed by
a near-fatal penalty miss – was not good
enough.
Today, one month short of his 29th
birthday, there can be no doubts about
Ronaldo’s pedigree. When it comes to the
big occasion, there is no one you would
rather have in your team than the
Portuguese.
In 2013, Ronaldo scored in
every Champions League knockout round
he played in – including decisive strikes
home and away in the last 16 victory over
former club Manchester United. He
outshone his great rival Messi in the
Clasico marathon, memorably hitting a
double in a 3-1 Copa del Rey semi-final
triumph at Camp Nou and bagging six in
as many Clasicos over the course of the
season.
And, with Portugal’s World Cup
qualification on the line in a November
playoff against Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s
Sweden, Ronaldo struck four times over
two legs to single-handedly take his
nation to Brazil.
To stand the test of time,
you have to deliver when it really matters
and Ronaldo has now proven himself in
this regard - certainly on the club scene.
His goalscoring statistics since his
ultimate breakthrough season with
Manchester United in 2006-07 are truly
astonishing; 321 club goals in 378
appearances at a rate of more than one a
game after joining Real Madrid four-and-
a-half years ago.
In 2013, Ronaldo
scored 69 goals in 59 games in all
competitions for club and country.
It is true that the Ballon d’Or may have
lost a degree of credibility since Fifa’s
takeover.
Wesley Sneijder’s omission in
2010, Jose Mourinho’s rigging claims, the
extension of this edition's voting deadline,
and the very public spat between Sepp
Blatter and Ronaldo have been harmful.
It
must also be recognised that we are
living in an era where due to changes in
the game and a paucity of top class
defenders and defences, it is easier for
attackers like Ronaldo to break record
after record.
But none of this changes the
fact that the forward will go down in
history as a footballing legend.
What is even more impressive is that, just
like his former manager Mourinho,
Ronaldo has confirmed his brilliance in
more than one environment – having
starred in two major European leagues.
He has demonstrated his ability to change
his skin and adapt to different styles,
systems, coaches, competitions and
cultures.
“He is the best. The best in the world.
Probably the best ever," Mourinho said of
his countryman ahead of the Champions
League return at Old Trafford last March.
'The Special One' was likely exaggerating
as he attempted to win the battle of the
mind games with Sir Alex Ferguson.
Ronaldo is not at the level of a Diego
Maradona or Pele, a Zinedine Zidane or
Platini, a Cruyff or Beckenbauer - players
who took their club heroics to major
international tournaments.
But Ronaldo
still has a chance to close the gap in
Brazil this summer.
After claiming the Ballon d’Or for a
second time, all that Ronaldo is missing
to complete his career jigsaw is to be the
star of a World Cup.
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