WORLD SOCCER PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Cristiano RONALDO 2013
Football’s finest…class of 2013
The pursuit of perfection
C
ristiano Ronaldo is World Soccer’s World Player of the Year for the second time. The Portugal star finished ahead of Barca’s Lionel Messi and Franck Ribery of Bayern Munich in our annual poll. The winner in 2008 was runner-up to Messi when the Argentinian won his third World Player title last year. But the tables have been turned and Ronaldo is the clear winner this time around. The award is recognition of Ronaldo’s stunning form for Real Madrid over the past 12 months, as well as his starring role in Portugal’s World Cup qualification. In November, he scored all four goals in his country’s play-off victory. PSG’s Zlatan Ibrahimovic, whose Sweden side were defeated by Portugal in those games, finished fourth in the poll. And even in the games where Ronaldo didn’t turn up, he still made the headlines. Forty-five thousand Cristiano Ronaldos turned up for Real Madrid’s Champions League game against Galatasaray at the end of November. But the real Ronaldo didn’t. Not on the pitch, anyway. For once, the Portuguese attacker was not tearing up defences, instead, he was up in the glass-fronted VIP box, recovering from an injury as down on the pitch his team-mates beat the Turkish side 4-0. Not that it stopped Ronaldo being the protagonist. In the 77th minute, the Santiago Bernabeu launched into a chant of “Cristiano Ronaldo, balon de oro”. At the time, fans lifted masks to
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PLAYER OF THE YEAR
their faces. It was a surreal sight, a kind of Being Cristiano Ronaldo. They had been handing the masks out before the game: 45,000 of them. Ronaldo lifted a hand, grateful for their support. It is unanimous. Madrid’s fans might have taken their time but now there are no doubts; they have embraced him wholeheartedly. Their former reticence just looks bizarre. Some are even daring to think the unthinkable: could Ronaldo be the best player that has ever played for Real Madrid? No player will ever have the impact on the club that Alfredo Di Stefano did – the man without whom modern Madrid simply does not make sense – but the question hovers. Certainty, Ronaldo’s statistics make for frightening reading. This is the man who scored his first 200 Real Madrid goals in just 197 games, who got to 150 quicker than a goal a game and who has just kept on accelerating. He recently hit
his 23rd hat-trick for the club. In the past four league campaigns, Ronaldo scored 26, 40, 46 and 34 goals, and he is on course to break those totals this term. He is already the fifth-top league scorer in the club’s history, having overtaken Ferenc Puskas. By the end of the year, he is likely to have gone beyond Hugo Sanchez and possibly Carlos Santillana too. It is impossible to imagine him not smashing every record going. He is just relentless and the pursuit of perfection means that he never lets up. He has had an extreme cold chamber installed at his home which aids recovery, and coaching staff tell the story of the night when Madrid returned from an away game in the Champions League. When the bus arrived at Valdebebas gone five in the morning, the players picked up their cars and headed home. Ronaldo didn’t; he instead called on the physios and
Portugal’s saviour... Ronaldo
