Manchester United’s Christiano Ronaldo is the latest European Footballer of the Year, winning France Football magazine’s coveted Ballon D’Or by a street from Barcelona’s Lionel Messi and Liverpool’s Fernando Torres.
Given that he scored 42 goals from the wing last season and helped Manchester United win the Premiership and the Champion’s League you can hardly begrudge the preening Portuguese his title.
Old Goldenballs himself, David Beckham, never won the title, the last Brit to do so was Michael Owen in 2001. Prior to that you have to go back to Kevin Keegan who won it twice in the 1970s and the great Manchester United trio of Best, Law and Charlton in the ’60s. Stanley Matthews was the inaugural winner in 1956.
It’s to be hoped that Ronaldo doesn’t suffer the same fate as Owen, whose career has been blighted since by injury and some odd career choices (he’s currently at Newcastle).
At 23 Ronaldo should be fit enough to last a few more years even though defenders are queuing up these days, literally, to kick lumps out of him.
One does it twice, gets booked and then someone else takes over. Referees are a dozy bunch, the second player to be penalised for an assault on the same opponent should get an automatic red card.
So Will Ronaldo maintain his determination to quit Manchester United and leave in the summer?
Depends on who the next Real Madrid manager is I suppose. But Man U and manager Alex Ferguson can hardly say they haven’t had value out of the player despite his stratospheric wages.