Cristiano Ronaldo will scoop his fifth Ballon d’Or in a lavish ceremony at the Eiffel Tower on Thursday.
That’s according to Spanish outlet Mundo Deportivo, who claim Ronaldo will follow up FIFA’s The Best award he received in October by drawing level with his great rival Lionel Messi in the Ballon d’Or stakes.
The evidence behind this claim, made by respected Spanish reporter Francesc Aguilar, is that France Football – the media outlet behind the annual award given to the world’s best player, as voted for by footballers, managers and journalists throughout the world – have moved their ceremony forward by a couple of weeks so that it won’t clash with Real Madrid’s Club World Cup commitments, which begin on 13 December.
Madrid face Borussia Dortmund in the Champions League on Wednesday evening and plans are reportedly in place for Ronaldo and club president Florentino Pérez to travel to Paris the following day, when the Portuguese superstar will accept his award.
Certainly, holding the ceremony on a Thursday would otherwise make little sense from France Football’s perspective. Their weekly magazine is released on a Tuesday and unless they’re planning a special Friday edition, they won’t be able to cover their own event in their own publication.
All signs therefore point to the 2017 Ballon d’Or heading Ronaldo’s way and despite the 32-year-old’s continued brilliance, it’s a choice which is likely to provoke a great deal of debate.
Ronaldo helped Los Blancos to both the La Liga title and a second successive Champions League triumph last season yet, by his standards, he’s made a poor start to this campaign, with just 11 goals in 17 appearances in all competitions to his name so far.
Messi, meanwhile, has begun 2017/18 in stunning style and there are many who believe that as great as Ronaldo is, he has never quite been on a par with the Argentine in Barcelona.
The Ballon d’Or electorate beg to differ, however, and if, as seems likely, Ronaldo does win his second in a row on Thursday, that will put both men level on five prizes each.
If you thought the great Messi v Ronaldo debate was going to be settled any time soon, it seems you were wrong.
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