Last night was quite probably the best night of the year for Cristiano Ronaldo… and he's had an exceptional 2013.
Not only did the forward score a jaw-dropping hat-trick to ensure Portugal head to the World Cup next summer, but, coincidentally, FIFA happened to let slip that they have decided to extend the voting period for the Ballon d’Or award due to a low turnout.
That decision means that Ronaldo’s display in the World Cup play-offs can now be taken into account, and voters will even be allowed to go back and change their original vote, so it looks like it will be now or never for the Real Madrid man if he wants to add a second Ballon d’Or to his trophy haul.
So, has Ronaldo proven that he is the undisputed best player in the world this year? talkSPORT looks at the case for and against that claim…
The case for
In theory, voters shouldn’t base their decisions on isolated performances, and instead are asked to consider displays over the entirety of the year, but the reality is that football lovers tend to have a short memory, and Ronaldo’s exhibitions in recent months – while Lionel Messi has suffered from injury problems – are fresh in the minds of those that participate in the ballot.
His displays against Sweden could force a change of heart in those who had already voted for someone else, while persuading those yet to commit that the Portuguese really is top dog. Yet while it is easy to reduce the case for Ronaldo to only his recent exploits, that ignores the incredible work he has done over the course of the year.
The stats speak for themselves. For club and country in 2013, Ronaldo has made 55 appearances, scored 66 goals and produced 16 assists. The Madrid man comfortably exceeded what would normally be an exceptional average of a goal every game and has also gone a long way towards further disproving the myth that he is selfish, something that simply doesn’t hold up these days.
Looking at Ronaldo’s displays in context, his consistency is even more impressive. In the first half of the year he managed to rise above the war zone created by Jose Mourinho at Real Madrid and become a real leader for Los Blancos, to the point that he is now universally loved by an increasingly divided group of supporters. That's no mean feat, and something even Iker Casillas can't lay claim to.
Early in the year, the Portuguese forward played a key role in an impromptu meeting among senior players at the Bernabeu, in which it was agreed to put differences aside and attempt to salvage their season, despite Mourinho’s efforts to the contrary.
Unlike his compatriot, no one can accuse Ronaldo of failing to deliver in 2013. A brace against Barcelona made sure Madrid got to the Copa del Rey final, while it was he who eliminated Manchester United from the Champions League with stunning displays in both legs of their knockout tie.
Even in Madrid’s humiliation at the hands of Borussia Dortmund in the semi-finals, Ronaldo managed to score his side’s only goal in the first leg, one of the few players to come out of the game with his reputation intact.
Likewise, in the Copa del Rey final defeat to Atletico Madrid, he also scored his side’s only goal. If Ronaldo’s team mates had played at the same level he managed during that stretch of the season, Madrid probably wouldn’t have ended the campaign trophy-less.
The number seven did everything in his power to salvage their season.
In the second half of the year, Ronaldo has managed to do something that all great footballers do: seize his brief window of opportunity. Just as Lionel Messi moved up a gear in 2009 to make Barcelona treble winners and topple Ronaldo from the top of football’s individual pile, the Portuguese has this year taken advantage of the Barca man’s injury problems and produced some of his most jaw-dropping displays ever.
Messi’s ridiculous consistency over the last few years could have made it easy for Ronaldo, a player who clearly cares about individual recognition, to become disheartened and fail to keep pace.
Rather, he has used his rival's success as motivation, and worked twice as hard to continue to produce the goods at the exceptionally high standard Messi has set. A second Ballon d’Or would be the perfect recognition for that effort.
The case against
While the Ballon d’Or criteria makes no mention of trophies, winning team honours is understandably seen as close to concrete proof of a player’s true brilliance, and there is no escaping Ronaldo’s short-comings in that area this year.
Just as the decision to give last year’s award to Lionel Messi was criticised after a season in which he ‘only’ won the Copa del Rey, so too will Ronaldo face further pressure if he picks up the individual prize after a year in which, collectively, Madrid won nothing.
It is on those grounds that some would have the prize given to Franck Ribery, though increasingly, those voices seem to be lowering.
There are also those that would argue that, quite simply, Ronaldo still isn’t better than Lionel Messi, and is only now more of a favourite to win the prize because the Argentine has been unable to fully defend his crown due to injury worries.
Such arguments ignore the fact that the award is given out on a yearly basis however, and therefore by its very nature must be given to the best performer during that specific year. That doesn’t necessarily correspond to the best player in the world in general, like it or not.
Goals442 verdict
If we put Lionel Messi to one side for a moment, finding another player that can genuinely compete with Ronaldo for this year’s prize is difficult. His closest other rival, Franck Ribery, has produced brief flashes of individual brilliance, but Bayern’s success was built on collective greatness rather than one standout player, meaning the Frenchman is likely to fall short in a vote that is shaped by the natural tendency of voters to pay attention to outstanding individual records and achievements.
Zlatan Ibrahimovic, meanwhile, did his best to haul a distinctly average Sweden side to the World Cup (and came pretty close to doing so), while he also ensured that PSG exceeded expectations in the Champions League at the same time as winning the league title.
Yet to ignore the relative strengths of La Liga and Ligue 1 would simply be unfair, and if we consider Ronaldo and Ibrahimovic's achievements in Europe this year, then evidently, the Portuguese took his team one step further than the Swede, with a semi-final appearance to Ibrahimovic’s quarter-final.
The other regular front-runners like Xavi or Andres Iniesta have had poor years by their high standards.
Which brings us back to Messi. Is Ronaldo now a better player than Lionel Messi? If we presume that the Barca man will return to his peak once he is over his injury problems, then the answer is possibly no.
On the other hand, has Ronaldo been a better player than Messi over the course of 2013, the period based on which this year’s Ballon d’or should be decided? Undoubtedly.
That leaves us with only one conclusion, therefore: Cristiano Ronaldo is currently the best fit player on the planet. This year’s Ballon d’Or should be his.
Do you agree? Should Cristiano Ronaldo win the Ballon d'Or this year? Let us know below...
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