Cristiano Ronaldo Wins Ballon d’Or, Blatter Jibe ‘No Longer An Issue’
Cristiano Ronaldo is finally over the insult leveled his way back in October by FIFA President Sepp Blatter. The new Ballon d’Or winner said that he and the world football (or, as it’s called in America, soccer) head honcho have smoothed everything over with a simple phone call, according to an Associated Press report.
Cristiano Ronaldo won his first Ballon d’Or award at Monday’s ceremony in Zurich, Switzerland. The award goes to Europe’s top footballer of the past year. The final nominees for the award were Barcelona’s Lionel Messi and Bayern Munich’s Franck Ribery, along with the Real Madrid superstar Ronaldo, England’s Daily Telegraph reported.
But there had been speculation that Cristiano Ronaldo would boycott the ceremony to protest the unprovoked barb directed his way by Blatter in October.
Speaking at Oxford Union, Blatter was asked to give his view on the differences between the sport’s two top superstars, and top contenders for the Ballon d’Or, Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo. He replied by speaking less about their achievements on the pitch and more about their respective personalities.
Blatter started by lauding Messi.
“Lionel Messi is a good boy that every father, every mother would like to have at home,” Blatter said, as quoted on EuroSport.com. “He is very quick, he is not exuberant, he plays well, he is a good boy. That is what makes him so popular, because he is this nice man and that is why he gets votes.”
But when he got to describing Cristiano Ronaldo, Blatter was less complimentary.
“One has more expenses for the hairdresser than the other,” Blatter said.
Clearly stung, Cristiano Ronaldo replied with a Twitter posting, sniping that Blatter’s remark, “shows clearly the respect and consideration that FIFA has for me.”
But speaking to the press Monday before the Ballon d’Or ceremony got underway, Ronaldo was clear that he considers the matter closed.
“This is no longer an issue, neither for us nor for football,” the 28-year-old Portugal captain stated. “We talked over the telephone and everything was cleared.”
A few hours later, Cristiano Ronaldo hoisted the Ballon d’Or trophy for the first time, as expected. To break Messi’s four-year lock on the award, Ronaldo needed to score 66 goals in a total of 56 games last year.
“First of all, I have to say a great thanks to all of my team-mates with the club and the national team,” an emotional Cristiano Ronaldo said, quoted by the BBC. “Without all of their efforts this would not have been possible. I am very happy, it is very difficult to win this award.”
