Cristiano Ronaldo has won the FIFA Ballon d’Or for the best player in the world for the third time, beating Lionel Messi and Manuel Neuer. Ronaldo had previously won in 2008 and 2013.
The Real Madrid striker was simply brilliant in 2014, leading La Liga in goals scored (31), the Champions League (17) and winning of the Golden Boot. In 2014 he scored 61 times from 60 games (while playing for both Real Madrid and Portugal).
Those goals help Real win four trophies – Champions League, Club World Cup, European Super Cup and the Copa del Rey in 2014.
With three D’Ors, Ronaldo joins a select group of superstars to have won the trophy three times; Johan Cruyff, Michel Platini and Marco Van Basten and only Messi with four has won to more often than CR7.
And Ronaldo is already the early leader to win the award next season as he has already scored a remarkable 26 goals in 16 games in La Liga and an additional five goals in six Champions League games this seasom.
“I would like to thank all of those who voted for me,” Ronaldo said as he accepted the award. “It has been an incredible year. I would like to continue the work that I have done so far. I want to try to improve, to become better as each day goes by.
“I never thought that I would bring this trophy back home on three occasions. I want to become one of the greatest players of all time. Of course, this requires a lot of effort and I hope to get there.”
Here is a look at Ronaldo year form a statistical standpoint.