Cristiano Ronaldo Favorite For Ballon d’Or, Insists Brazilian Ronaldo

Cristiano Ronaldo has received a Ballon d’Or endorsement from his Brazilian namesake.

Ronaldo, who won the World Cup with Brazil in 1994 and 2002, has declared that Cristiano Ronaldo is the favorite to win the coveted annual accolade.

Ronaldo, who carved out a scintillating soccer career of his own by playing at Barcelona, Real Madrid, Inter Milan, and AC Milan, appeared on Canal +, via India, and he waxed lyrical about Cristiano Ronaldo’s achievements over the last 12 months.

The Brazilian icon declared that Cristiano Ronaldo’s goal-scoring run, which has seen him score 32 times in just 26 matches, is “unthinkable.”

Because of his exploits over the last 12 months, which has helped Real Madrid to win the European Cup for the tenth time in their history, Ronaldo believes that the Portuguese forward should be rewarded with the Ballon d’Or for the second year in succession.

“What he is doing is incredible. His numbers were unthinkable in my time and before that. He deserves it. He has so much quality and he uses it very intelligently. It’s incredible to watch him play. He combines so well his technical quality with his physical force.”

If Cristiano Ronaldo was to be honored with the gong, it will be the third occasion that he has won it. As well as picking it up in January 2014, Cristiano Ronaldo also claimed the Ballon d’Or, which is annually awarded to the best player of the last 12 months, after leading Manchester United to the European Cup and Premier League title in 2008.

Cristiano Ronaldo is set to go up against Bayern Munich’s Manuel Neur and Barcelona’s Lionel Messi for the Ballon d’Or. Messi has once again been scoring goals for fun over the past 12 months, while he also helped to lead Argentina to the World Cup final. However, he is regarded as an outsider for the prize.

Manuel Neur is seen as Cristiano Ronaldo’s main opposition. Neur is regarded as easily the best goalkeeper in the world now, and he was heroic as Germany won the World Cup in Brazil this summer.

However, Ronaldo is still adamant that Cristiano Ronaldo should win. In fact, he thinks it is more obvious than when he did so last year.

“I think this year is a lot clearer than last. He won (last year), but it wasn’t by much. This year it’s obvious that he’s going to win. It’s not that any of them is better than the other. As the years go by, they both continue to perform at a very high level. It just depends on the particular season.”

[Image via Sky]