Ronaldo wins fifth Ballon d'Or award
Paris, Dec 8 (AFP) Portuguese star Cristiano Ronaldo wona record-equalling fifth Ballon d'Or award for the year's bestplayer.
The Real Madrid forward's second successive win drew himlevel alongside Barcelona rival Lionel Messi on five Ballonsd'Or, after the Argentinian took second in the vote, withBrazilian Neymar third.
The 32-year-old was the top-scorer in last season'sChampions League as Real successfully defended the trophy withvictory over Juventus in June, and also led the Spanish giantsto their first La Liga title in five years.
"Of course I feel happy. This is something I look forwardto every year," Ronaldo said at the ceremony at the EiffelTower in Paris.
"The trophies won last year helped to win this award.
Thanks to my Real Madrid team-mates. And I want to thank therest of the people who helped me reach this level."Ronaldo, who also won the FIFA Men's Player of the Yearaward in October, added the 2017 Ballon d'Or to his previouswins in 2008, 2013, 2014 and 2016.
He scored 42 goals in all competitions for Real lastseason, and also netted 15 times in European World Cupqualifying.
Ronaldo will lead Portugal at next year's World Cup inRussia as he looks to add football's greatest title to the2016 European Championship win, when the Portuguese beat hostsFrance in the final.
Messi and Ronaldo have now shared the last 10 Ballonsd'Or since the latter's first win after leading ManchesterUnited to the 2007-08 Champions League title.
"I hope to play at this level for a few more years, Ihope the battle with Messi continues, things happen for areason," he added.
"I feel good this season and we'll see what we win at theend of the year."When asked if he would like to finish his career at theSantiago Bernabeu, Ronaldo said: "I'm happy at Real Madrid, Iwant to stay there... If possible."Real Madrid president Florentino Perez would have beenpleased to hear Ronaldo's intention to stay, and he comparedhis current star to Alfredo Di Stefano, the only other playerto win multiple Ballons d'Or while with Real.
"For me, he's the most complete player after Alfredo DiStefano, he's Alfredo's heir," said Perez.
"He embodies all the values of Real -- effort, respect,teamwork and solidarity."- Neymar settles for third again - ==================================The prestigious France Football magazine award, which wasfirst won by Englishman Stanley Matthews in 1956, is decidedupon by a journalists' ballot, with each naming a top fivefrom a list of 30.
It was a replica first two from 2016, which was the firstyear after FIFA ended its association with the Ballon d'Or andrestarted its own Player of the Year award.
Neymar will be hoping to take over the mantle of 32-year-old Ronaldo and Messi, 30, in the coming years aftercoming third for the second time, having finished fifth lastyear.
The 25-year-old left Messi's Barcelona during the closeseason in a world-record transfer to Paris Saint-Germain,where he has already scored 15 goals this season.
"Neymar has a lot of talent, a lot of potential, and I'msure he'll have some chance to win in the future," Ronaldosaid.
Veteran Italian goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon finishedfourth after helping Juventus to the Champions League final,while Real's Croatian midfielder Luka Modric rounded out thetop five.
Centre-back Sergio Ramos was the highest-ranked Spaniardand the third Real player in the top 10, one ahead of Frenchrising star Kylian Mbappe in seventh.
Chelsea midfielder N'Golo Kante was the highest PremierLeague representative, with Bayern Munich striker RobertLewandowski and England's Harry Kane completing the top 10.
(AFP)ATK.
This is unedited, unformatted feed from the Press Trust of India wire.