(AFP PHOTO / GERARD JULIEN)
Christiano Ronaldo, midfielder and attacker of the Portuguese team and Real Madrid, won the Ballon d’Or Gala for best player in 2014, granted by FIFA, for the second year in a row and for the third time in his career.
The celebration was held in Zurich. This marks a year full of titles and wins for the player and for Real Madrid.
Ronaldo won with 37.66% of the votes against his Portuguese rival Lionel Messi, attacker for Barcelona, who received only 15.76% of the votes.
Ronaldo won the award for the first time in 2008, when it was only held by FIFA, also against Lionel Messi. On the other hand, Messi won the award 4 times in a row from 2009 until 2012, during which Ronaldo was the runner-up three times.
On the other hand, Lionel Messi came in second place after playing in the Argentinian team to win the FIFA World Cup. However, the team lost against the German Bayern Munich, whose goalkeeper, Manuel Neuer, is Messi’s rival. Neuer lost with a very small difference of votes, when he won 15.72% under the supervision of FIFA and France Football magazine. The voters are eligible team leaders and coaches from every national club, as well as one journalist from every country.
Ronaldo scored 51 goals in 47 games in the last season, when Real Madrid won its 10th title in the UEFA Champions League, raising the team record, while also winning the title of the Copa del Rey.
In the UEFA League, Ronaldo scored 17 goals, which is a high record in one league.
Ronaldo also won the title of the FIFA World Cup, which was held in Morocco, as well as scoring 26 goals in 17 games in this season’s Spanish Copa del Rey, a figure close to the record of the winner of the previous title for the Spanish league, Messi, who scored 50 goals in 2011-2012 season.
This made up for the loss when Ronaldo played with Portugal’s team in the latest World Cup, during which the team lost in the first round and Ronaldo scored only one goal. However, Ronaldo was still Portugal’s top scorer, with 52 goals in 117 games.
Joachim Löw was chosen as the best coach in 2014 after managing the German team to win the world cup in Brazil last year. He won against Italian Carlo Ancelotti, Real Madrid’s coach, who won the title of the European league, and Diego Simeone, Atlético de Madrid’s coach and winner of the title of the Primera División in the annual voting.
