He’s nailed on but, Christ, it’s annoying that you’d even doubt it.
Cristiano Ronaldo is headed for a fourth Ballon d’Or and there should be no disputing the fact.
2016 has been a good year for Portugal’s favourite son. A Champions League and international European Cup success have just been the tip of the iceberg for a 31-year-old seemingly immune to time, to pressure, to defenders.
Unfortunately for a man like Cristiano though, his genius is always divisive. You can’t praise him without someone claiming that it is the most outrageous statement they’ve ever heard. You can’t say he’s been the best in the world this year without people feeling that Lionel Messi has been disrespected.
The fact of the matter is, whether you like Messi or you like Ronaldo, both are the two greatest players of all time so saying one is better than the other is simply condemning one to be the second best player of all time. That’s really not that big of an insult.
So it’s been another record-breaking campaign for Real Madrid’s top ever scorer.
He set an appearance record at Euro 2016 and became the top scorer of the competition. Somewhere along the way, he helped guide Portugal – bloody Portugal – to the title as well and he even managed to do it with a bit of dignity and selflessness that many would deny him.
He hit 35 of Real Madrid’s 110 league goals last season and brought them to the final of the Champions League – a tournament in which he took his own personal scoring tally to 95 – and hit the winning penalty.
When questions were asked of Ronaldo, he answered them. When the critics were willing him to balls up, he ignored them.
On Friday night, he looked for all the world like he was finally back to full fitness and then some as he hit his 62nd, 63rd, 64th, and 65th international goals.
He ripped Andorra to shreds like you’d probably expect a Ballon d’Or competitor to do but each of his four goals during that 6-0 win were frighteningly glorious.
A left-footed volley, a header, a right-footed volley, a left-footed half-volley.
They were hit with conviction and accuracy and pure, merciless power. They were hit like only Ronaldo could and they were finished like only the best finisher in the world could.
1. He gets off the ground in time to smack home a volley off his left into the bottom coner.
2. He leaps like a star-gazing salmon above the defender to head his second.
3. A ball is absolutely drilled at him and he manages to react and control his effort first-time to put it in the top corner.
Cristiano Ronaldo's Hat-trick Goal😎 https://t.co/ILQUeVs0wz
— 🇪🇭.فیضان (@DexFaizan) October 7, 2016
4. Anticipation, reactions, improvisation.
FOUR! Cristiano Ronaldo scores his fourth goal of the game, as he converts Quaresma's cross https://t.co/kwPgCgJwtr https://t.co/uoogy6uQge
— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) October 7, 2016
And this stuff is just the latest example in a long line of Ronaldo’s brilliance.
The man is unstoppable. Give him his dues. Give him his Ballon d’Or.
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