Ronaldo leaves Messi in shade with third Ballon d’Or

Portuguese and Real Madrid great Cristiano Ronaldo won his third Ballon d’Or on Monday at the FIFA ceremony in Zurich to edge within one of his eternal rival, Barcelona’s Argentinian magician Lionel Messi. The 29-year-old forward — who played a key role in Real Madrid’s charge to a 10th Champions League trophy — beat Messi and Germany’s World Cup winning goalkeeper Manuel Neuer. Ronaldo was the star of the night in which Real teammate James Rodriguez won the goal of the year award and Germany’s Joachim Loew was declared coach of the year. Ronaldo cruised to victory garnering 37.66 per cent of the votes of the 181 national team coaches, 182 national team captains, and 181 media representatives who voted. The always well-groomed Portuguese then took to Twitter to express his joy. “2014 was full of incredible moments. Thank you all!” he tweeted.

I never thought I would win this trophy on three occasions. I want to be one of the greatest players of all time and of course this requires a lot of effort.

Cristiano Ronaldo, who also won the award in 2008 and 2013

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