There really can only be one winner...

As far as I’m concerned, the above statement should not be phrased ‘Why Cristiano Ronaldo should win the Ballon d’Or’, rather, ‘Why should anyone else but Cristiano Ronaldo win the Ballon d’Or’ in terms of individual performances in the last 12 months. It’s practically a no-brainer. If it wasn’t for one Lionel Messi – who has been nominated for what would be his fourth award in succession – the Portuguese would have more than the single Ballon d’Or trophy he won in 2008 and we probably would have been spared the sight of him looking quite obviously p*ssed off at awards ceremonies, as well as talk of him feeling ‘sad’ and unloved at Real Madrid. It was at the start of last season that Ronaldo expressed his apparent ‘sadness’ at, it seems, a lack of recognition of his true value to the club, but it did little to affect his performances over the course of that season and particularly since the turn of the year 12 months ago. Luis Suarez is on course to break all sorts of goalscoring records in the Premier League this season but only if he achieves the same consistency – albeit ridiculous – that Messi and Ronaldo have in recent years can he be put in the same bracket as the undisputed best players in the world, who are operating at a level above everyone else and have been for some time. Ronaldo’s elevation above Messi in the eyes of some observers in recent months has been a little premature in what was been an injury-affected and stop-start season for the Argentinean genius, but what isn’t in doubt is that he was outshone by Ronaldo in 2013 and as far as the Ballon d’Or is concerned, that’s all that matters. Why should Ronaldo win the award? For a start, the numbers are quite frightening. Other Ballon d’Or winners will have been recognised for their defending (Fabio Cannavaro), for their grace and class (Kaka and Zinedine Zidane) and for their outrageous skill (Ronaldinho) but goals are the most important currency as far as Ronaldo is concerned and he scored a helluva lot of them in 2013. He reached the milestone of 400 career goals earlier this week and 69 of those came last year, in only 60 games. There were a lot of important ones in there too, from the three he scored in Stockholm against Sweden to guarantee that Portugal would be going to the World Cup, the goals in both legs of the Champions League victory over Manchester United and two in the Nou Camp as Real knocked Barcelona out of the Copa del Rey semi-final in February. A phenomenal athlete – a freak, even – who rarely misses any games, Ronaldo has reached such a consistent level of performance that it is a surprise if he doesn’t score, make a significant impact or isn’t the main man in practically every game he plays and never was that more evident in 2013. In any other year Franck Ribery and Lionel Messi would be worthy winners of the most prestigious individual award in the game, but as was the case with Messi last year, there can and should only be one winner this time around. Early congratulations on your award Cristiano, you thoroughly deserve it.