Five feats achieved in 2014 by Real Madrid and
Portugal forward Cristiano Ronaldo who on
Monday won the Ballon d’Or world player of the
year for the third time:
+ Champions League goals record
Ronaldo led Real Madrid to their 10th European
crown — La Decima — in sensational style by
smashing Lionel Messi’s record of 15 Champions
League goals in a single season with 17 in just 11
appearances.
+ King of the hat-trick
After the conquest of La Decima, there has been
no letting up from the 29-year-old Ronald this
season as he has already bagged four hat-tricks
in La Liga.
His latest treble against Celta Vigo in December
was a record-breaking 23rd in the Spanish top
flight to take him clear of Real legend Alfredo di
Stefano and Telmo Zarra, who both managed 22.
+ Portugal’s all-time leading scorer
Ronaldo unseated Pauleta to become Portugal’s
all-time leading marksman with 52 international
goals.
He also became the first Portuguese player to
score in three World Cup finals, but his solitary
strike against Ghana was not enough to prevent
the 2006 semi-finalists bowing out at the group
stage.
+ Unstoppable at the Bernabeu
Ronaldo was impossible for opposition defence to
tie down at Real Madrid in 2014. He scored in
every La Liga game in which he played at the
Santiago Bernabeu, striking 23 times in just 14
games.
+ Fastest start to a season yet
Despite the presence of Messi and a niggling knee
injury which forced him to miss a league game
early in the season, Ronaldo has almost certainly
wrapped up a third Pichichi award for La Liga’s
top goalscorer in 2014-15.
The former Manchester United man has smashed
in 26 goals in just 16 games to also become the
first man to in Spanish history to score more
than 25 times in six La Liga seasons.
List of award winners at 2014 Ballon d’Or
ceremony held in Zurich on Monday:
Ballon d’Or: Cristiano Ronaldo (POR/Real Madrid)
Woman player of the year: Nadine Kessler (GER/
Wolfsburg)
Men’s team coach of the year: Joachim Loew
(GER/Allemagne)
Women’s team coach of the year: Ralf
Kellermann (GER/Wolfsburg)
Puskas prize for best goal: James Rodriguez
(COL/Real Madrid)
Fairplay: Brazil 2014 World Cup volunteers
Presidents prize: Hiroshi Kagawa (JPN), oldest
journalist (89) at 2014 World Cup finals which
was the 10th one he had covered.
Team of the year:
Manuel Neuer (GER/Bayern Munich); Sergio
Ramos (ESP/Real Madrid), Thiago Silva (BRA/
Paris SG), David Luiz (BRA/Paris SG), Philipp
Lahm (GER/Bayern Munich); Andrés Iniesta (ESP/
Barcelona), Toni Kroos (GER/Real Madrid), Ángel
Di Maria (ARG/Manchester United); Arjen Robben
(NED/Bayern Munich), Lionel Messi (ARG/
Barcelona), Cristiano Ronaldo (POR/Real Madrid)