Barcelona’s Argentine ace Lionel Messi won the 2009 Ballon D’Or, or European Footballer of The Year last week.
Ronaldo, winner in 2008, came in second.
Both player have had a sensational 2008/2009 season; but the Champions League made the difference.
Messi and Barcelona were comfortable winner in the final, with Ronaldo overshadowed completely in Manchester United shirt.
The award could have gone the other way if Ronaldo and MU were the Champions, only IF.
Cristiano Ronaldo was greeted by a huge crowd of adoring fans as he was officially unveiled as a Real Madrid player on Monday evening.
The former Manchester United player, who moved to the Bernabeu in a world record £80m deal, said that it was a “childhood dream” to sign for the Spanish giants.
It is thought 80,000 fans flocked to the club’s stadium for the event – the largest such gathering since Diego Maradona attracted 75,000 when signing for Napoli from Barcelona in 1984.
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Portugal national team coach Phil Scolari has urged Ronaldo to join Barcelona, as he reckons the Manchester United winger must quit Old Trafford this summer to improve.
For me that’s rubbish. Manchester United are playing as a great team, and have experience stars like Paul Scholes and Ryan Giggs to learn from; while young guns like Wayne Rooney will provide the friendly ‘rivalry’ for Ronaldo to improve himself.
Sure Barcelona have lots of great players too like Ronaldinho and Deco, but Manchester United are nothing short of the Spanish giant.
Also, English Premier League is probably more competitive than Spanish La Liga. I can’t see the need for a player to switch from EPL to La Liga for the sake of ‘improvement’.
Barcelona could have signed Cristiano Ronaldo for £12m last summer, but they turned down the offer as they were planning to get Thierry Henry instead.
Speaking to Spanish newspaper El Mundo Deportivo, Ronaldo’s agent Jorge Mendes said that he offered the Portugal international to the Spanish champion before the World Cup, but was rejected.
Barcelona in the end failed to lure Henry, and Mendes insists they will not get another chance to land his in-form client. He said: “At this time it is impossible that he can go to Barcelona because Manchester would never let him leave, not for all the money in the world.”
Cristiano Ronaldo has reiterated he is happy at Manchester United and ‘would love to continue’ at Old Trafford.
The Portugal winger has been persistently linked with Real Madrid by the Spanish media and has not helped quell the speculation by announcing he would make a decision on his future shortly.
In an interview with Portuguese newspaper Publico, the 23-year-old confirmed he would like to play in Spain one day but that he is currently satisfied with life in England.
‘There is nothing certain at the moment,’ Ronaldo said. ‘The press always make stories about interest from other teams, not only from Madrid, also from Barcelona.
‘On one hand it’s good and means that they know your value as a player and think you can be a good reinforcement for other teams. But my head is in Manchester Because it is the club that, at the moment, puts me in the best condition and that I’m happy at.
‘Now, as I have said many times, only God knows the future. I have never hid from anyone that I would like to play in Spain one day. It’s a dream, but sometimes dreams don’t happen.
‘I can guarantee that I am happy at Manchester United and that I would love to continue.’