The European Footballer of the Year award goes to Cristiano Ronaldo

2 December 08 by Bill

There was no upset today as runaway favourite Cristiano Ronaldo won the prestigious Ballon D’Or beating off competition from Lionel Messi and Fernando Torres. Ronaldo was a clear winner receiving 446 points, compared to second placed Messi with 281 points and third place Torres with 179 points.

Stevem Gerrard was the highest placed Englishman in tenth with 28 points with United’s Wayne Rooney finishing 13th with a measly 11 points. Nemanja Vidic finished joint 21st with 3 points and Edwin van der Sar rouned up United’s contingent with 2 points, finishing 24th.

I am not totally sure how the scoring works, is it 1 point = 1 vote? If you know, I’d love to hear from you.

Ronaldo joins a prestigious list of winners which includes players such as Johan Cruyff, Franz Beckenbauer, Marco Van Basten, Bobby Charlton and George Best to name but a few. Ronaldo is actually United’s first winner of the award since George Best scooped the prize in 1968.

Michael Owen was the last Englishman to win the award in 2001.

Cristiano Ronaldo was understandably delighted with this latest award. He said: “It is one of the most beautiful days of my life. To gain this trophy is something I dreamed of as a child.

“Great emotion fills me but I cannot really describe it.

“I want to thank those who voted for me, those who know me and those who live with me.

“I was not worried, because I was aware of what I did in the course of the season.

“But to the people who mentioned my name, I say thank you. Thank you also to my team-mates.

“This (award) is one that I want to win again because it is so good. Therefore, I will wake and I will say to myself, ‘I want to be even better’.”