Cristiano Ronaldo 101

The Manchester United midfielder has enjoyed another outstanding campaign having scored 38 goals in all competitions for the Barclays Premier League champions.

The 23-year-old beat off competition from Fernando Torres, Steven Gerrard, Cesc Fabregas, Emmanuel Adebayor and David James to land the prize.

Arsenal midfielder Fabregas was named Young Player of the Year – an award which Ronaldo also won in 2007 – at a star-studded ceremony at London’s Grosvenor House Hotel tonight.

PFA team of the year (Premier League)

David James (Portsmouth), Bacary Sagna (Arsenal), Rio Ferdinand (Man Utd), Nemanja Vidic (Man Utd), Gael Clichy (Arsenal), Steven Gerrard (Liverpool), Cesc Fabregas (Arsenal), Cristiano Ronaldo (Man Utd), Ashley Young (Aston Villa), Emmanuel Adebayor (Arsenal), Fernando Torres (Liverpool).

[Source]

Cristiano Ronaldo 101

MU dominated the game from the start but the scoreline was surprisingly kept at 0-0. In fact they could have gone a goal behind if Michael Owen’s goal was not wrongly ruled as offside… but then, United had 2 penalty claims (one was obvious foul in the box) denied as well.

The 2nd half was a different story though; Manchester United finally convert their dominance into goals. Ronaldo opened the scoring on 49th minute with a cleverly taken freekick, and scored the other two on 70th minute and 88th minute.

The hattrick takes Ronaldo’s goal tally to 22 for the current season, just one short of last season’s 23-goals.

Cristiano Ronaldo 101

Ronaldo became the first player to win both awards in the same year since Andy Gray in 1977; Ronaldo received his awards at a gala dinner in London on Sunday night (April 22).

Ronaldo has always been the favourite; his only real competitor for Player of the Year was Chelsea’s Didier Drogba, who is 2nd on the list, while Ronaldo’s Manchester United team mate Paul Scholes in 3rd.

The 2nd place for young players is Arsenal’s Cesc Fabregas; Tottenham’s Aaron Lennon 3rd.

Manchester United also have a strong hold for PFA Premier League Team of the Year, filling 8 out of 11 spots. It will be quite an ironic if Chelsea wins the Premier League and FA Cup in the end, with only one player in the Team of the Year… touch wood.

Edwin van der Sar, Gary Neville, Nemanja Vidic, Rio Ferdinand, Patrice Evra, Ryan Giggs, Paul Scholes, Cristiano Ronaldo (Manchester United), Steven Gerrard (Liverpool), Didier Drogba (Chelsea) and Dimitar Berbatov (Tottenham)

Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson received a Special Merit Award.

Cristiano Ronaldo 101

Ronaldo’s brilliant form for the Red Devils this term has already seen him emerge as favourite for both the PFA and the Football Writers’ Player of the Year awards.

However, Ferdinand, who featured alongside the Portuguese yesterday as United maintained their six-point Premiership lead over Chelsea, does not believe the accolades should end there.

Read the rest of Rio Ferdinand: Cristiano Ronaldo is Europe’s best

Cristiano Ronaldo 101

Cristiano Ronaldo 101