The Portugal International and Real Madrid attacker, Cristiano Ronaldo has been crowned the 2014 Fifa Ballon d’Or ahead of Barcelona forward Lionel Messi and Bayern Munich goalkeeper Manuel Neuer, scooping up the prestigious individual award for the third time in his career.
Ronaldo who enjoyed a very successful 2014, guiding Real Madrid to Champions League glory with a record of 17 goals in one campaign. He earned 37.66 per cent of the votes to beat Lionel Messi and Maunael Neuer to the top spot.
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In addition, the prolific attacker played a pivotal role in the Santiago Bernabeu side’s Copa del Rey win by netting three goals in six appearances, even though he eventually missed the final against Barcelona due to injury.
On the individual scale, he was crowned joint-winner of the European Golden Shoe together with Luis Suarez. The 29-year-old won the Liga top scorer award by scoring 31 goals in 30 appearances.
Cristiano Ronaldo becomes the seventh player in history to successfully defend his Ballon d’Or title after Johan Cruyff, Kevin Keegan, Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, Michel Platini, Marco van Basten and Lionel Messi.
The Real Madrid star was first voted the world’s best in 2008 while he was still at Manchester United, when he pipped Messi and Fernando Torres to the coveted trophy. He then had to settle for second spot in 2009, 2011 and 2012 before winning the award a second time in 2013, this time ahead of Messi and Franck Ribery.
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With only Messi ahead of him on four Ballon d’Or trophies, the former Manchester United star has moved level with Cruyff, Platini and Van Basten on three wins.
Lionel Messi, meanwhile, made it to the podium for the seventh time in succession after he was crowned all-time top goalscorer of La Liga and the Champions League in 2014, and amassed 15.76% of the final vote.
Manuel Neuer missed out on the chance to become the first goalkeeper to win the award since Lev Yashin in 1963 after guiding Germany to World Cup glory and winning the Bundesliga title and DFB-Pokal with Bayern. He earned 15.72% of the vote.
