Cr7 Wins His Fourth Ballon d’OR!

Cristiano Ronaldo has won the 2016 Ballon d’Or trophy for a Fourth time! It has been an incredible year for the Portuguese superstar, lets take a look at his achievements and what they mean.

In a year when he took home the Champions League and the Euro 2016 trophy, Cristiano taking home the Ballon d’Or was basically a forgone conclusion. A certain Barcelona player missing his penalty before retiring from international duty((although he already returned)) definitely helped as well. But seriously, what set the world’s most popular athlete apart from the rest of the competition this year?

Consistency

Ronaldo has been in top form for mostly all of 2016, scoring 51 goals in 55 games for club and country as well as registering 17 assists and 6 hat tricks. He didn’t have the best of displays early in the Euros but remained decisive and also clutch later on. He scored 2 goals as well as providing an inch perfect through ball for an assist vs Hungary in a game that if they lost they were done. Later on, after providing the assist for Nani’s decisive goal vs Croatia, he soared over 30 inches off the ground to head home against Wales in the semi-final.

Also during the early part of 2016/17 season Ronaldo was struggling to get back to his best following his injury in the Final of the Euros. He recovered his brilliant best against Dortmund putting in a great performance as well as opening the scoring. After struggling in a couple of games after, many were writing him off saying he can’t produce the way he used to, shortly after this, he would silence his haters again.

3 goals against Atletico de Madrid, something a team hasn’t managed to do since December of 2015, Ronaldo did it all on his own in what was another great all around performance to beat our city rivals in the Cauldron for the last time. Going back to last year, at the end of 2015 in the Benitez era, people started to question his ability. But when the new year and Zidane came, so did Ronaldo’s best form. He scored 14 goals in 18 league games under Rafa, while this is great return for most, this wasn’t Ronaldo’s standard. in the final 20 La Liga games under Zidane, Ronaldo scored 21 times, now that my friends, is more like it.

Trophies/Heroic Moments

This year was probably the best of his career from a team perspective. His side is 6 points clear a top of La Liga at the moment, while also bringing home the Champions League for his Club as well as the European Championship for his beloved country. Winning an International trophy with a team like the one he had in France is truly sets him apart, he said it’s his greatest accomplishment and I might have to agree. There’s a ton of talent in Portugal’s roster, but many are still very young and or just haven’t reached the heights expected of them. No one gave them a chance before or even during the tournament, but somehow, he managed to Captain his side all the way to the Final before switching into a coach role after his injury, he was up giving more instructions the Fernando Santos! Many things people said about him not being a good enough leader were proven to be false.

Many people thought he was too much of an egomaniac to do what he did during the Euros. Against Poland, it came down to a penalty shootout, instead of taking the glory penalty like he did in the UCL final, he took the first one. However, He showed his leadership even more by what he did after that. Joao Moutinho is an excellent little footballer but for some reason he was feeling nervous and didn’t want to take one of the Penalties, Ronaldo was having non of it. He told him “No, you take them well” “You shoot, you shoot!”, with the confidence of the captain within him, he stepped up and nailed it.

Ronaldo wasn’t short on big time moments either. I already mentioned what he did in the Euros as well as two of his best performances of the new season, but he did much more than just that. He scored the game winning goal in El Clasico to break Barca hearts and bring Real back into the title race when it seemed already over in the second Clasico of the 2015/16 season. In the Champions league he provided many vintage moments, scoring twice against Roma to advance them to the Quarterfinals. Madrid Faced Wolfsburg in the next round with everyone thinking it wouldn’t be remotely close over the two legs. We were in for a shock as Wolfsburg won the first leg 2-0 putting the all whites in a sticky situation needing a 3-0 win to advance to the semi final. That when Cr7 said “I got this”, he scored an unreal hat trick with a tap in, a great header and a free kick that found it way untouched through the wall, Madrid got exactly what they needed from their King.

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He was injured the first leg vs Man City and not fully fit for the second, but he had another huge moment in the Final. Ronaldo still not fully fit didn’t have his best performance in the final, failing to really influence the match, but, when the match went to penalties, he knew he had to step up. Some fans might recall Ronaldo missed a pen in the 2008 final back in his United days vs Chelsea and never forgave himself even though they won the final. So when he stepped up to the spot, a lot of pressure was on his shoulders as always, but he buried it, ripped his shirt off and flexed for the Madrid fans after winning them their most prized trophy. After a year like that, No one, not even “la pulga”, could do anything to stop this trophy from reaching his hands.

Next: 3 Things We Learned From Real Madrid’s Win Over Deportivio