Ballon d’Or in play as Ronaldo bears down on Messi
MADRID: Cristiano Ronaldo heads to Saturday’s Champions League final against Juventus on the brink of realising a burning ambition of matching Lionel Messi’s record of winning the Ballon d’Or five times.
“I want to catch Messi,” Ronaldo confessed when collecting his third World Player of the Year crown back in 2015.
Now the Portuguese has four to his name, but Messi still remains one step ahead with five. The two have dominated the award for the past decade in the battle to not just be considered the best of their generation, but among the best of all time.
Yet, whilst Juventus’ stubborn defence forced Messi to fire blanks in a 3- 0 quarter-final aggregate win for the Italians over Barcelona, Ronaldo can complete another stellar season by ensuring Madrid become the first side to retain the Champions League.
“I am aware of the fact that what I’ve done in football has already left and will continue to leave a mark,” Ronaldo told UEFA.com.
“I haven’t broken so many records by accident. That’s not an obsession for me, but I do like breaking them.”
Ronaldo has already added his name to more record books during this season’s Champions League.
His hat- trick against Bayern Munich in the quarter- finals made him the first man to score more than 100 Champions League goals. And he duly added another hat-trick in the semi-finals against Atletico Madrid to carry Real to the final in Cardiff this weekend.
“He has a good opportunity with the season that he has had, above all in the Champions League this year,” Predrag Mijatovic, who scored the winning goal when Real last met Juventus in the Champions League final in 1998, told AFP.
However, the Montenegrin believes Juventus goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon could finally end Messi and Ronaldo’s reign if he lifts the Champions League for the first time at 39 to complete the treble for the Italian giants.
“I think the next Ballon d’Or will come from the team that wins the Champions League,” added Mijatovic. “Cristiano is there, as is Buffon and other great players at Real Madrid like Sergio Ramos that could aspire to it.”
Ramos more than Ronaldo has been Real’s hero in beating Atletico in two of the past three Champions League finals, scoring in both games in Lisbon and Milan.
Howeve r, t he Sp a n i s h internat ional doesn’t seem interested in depriving his teammate of a fifth Ballon d’Or to tie Messi’s record.
“If I wanted to win individual awards I would have played tennis,” Ramos said on Tuesday. — AFP AS Juventus prepare to face Real Madrid in the Champions League final in Cardiff on Saturday, here are five memorable meetings between two of the world’s most iconic clubs:
Legends collide Clashing for the first time in the European Cup, Madrid and Juventus served up a thrilling quarter-final in 1962 that set the template for over 50 years of epic duels.
Madrid had won the tournament five years in a row between 1956 and 1960 before slipping up in 1961, while Juventus were European neophytes appearing in the last eight for the first time.
The great Alfredo Di Stefano gave Real a 1- 0 win in Turin in the first leg. But legendary striker Omar Sivori struck in the return as Juve became the first team to inflict a European home defeat on Madrid, who had been unbeaten in their previous 22 games at the Bernabeu.
Even that shock setback could not rattle Madrid, however, and they won the replay 3-1 in Paris.
Seventh heaven Appearing in the Champions League final for the first time in 17 years, Madrid found themselves in the unusual position of being underdogs in 1998 as they took on Juventus in Amsterdam.
The Italians had won the competition two years earlier, were in their third successive final and possessed a star- studded line-up including current Madrid coach Zinedine Zidane.
But Jupp Heynckes’s Madrid rose to the challenge and ended the club’s 32-year wait to win a seventh European Cup thanks to Predrag Mijatovic’s cool finish from a tight angle in the 66th minute.
“That goal gave me a place in the history of Real Madrid,” Mijatovic said. “I can say it was worth playing football just to live that moment.”
End of an era When Madrid flew to Turin for the second leg of their Champions League semi-final in 2003, the ‘Galacticos’ appeared on the brink of yet another memorable conquest.
But despite holding a 2-1 lead from the first leg, the defending European champions were in for a rude awakening.
Zidane endured a miserable return to his old club as Juventus snuffed out the Madrid playmaker, turning the tie on its head with goals from David Trezeguet and Alessandro Del Piero.
Gianluigi Buffon saved a penalty from Madrid’s Luis Figo before Pavel Nedved made it 3- 0. Zidane got one back, but it was Juventus who advanced to a final they lost to AC Milan.
For shattered Madrid, it was to be their last appearance in the semi-finals for eight years.
Capello’s revenge After a turbulent season at the Bernabeu eight years earlier, Fabio Capello enjoyed sweet redemption in 2005 as his Juventus side knocked the Spaniards out of the Champions League in the last 16.
Beaten 1- 0 in the first leg in Madrid, Juve forced extra time when substitute Trezeguet lashed home in the 75th minute.
A fiery encounter boiled over with the dismissals of Madrid’s Brazilian star Ronaldo and Juve’s Alessio Tacchinardi. But with a penalty shootout just four minutes away, Marcelo Zalayeta’s fierce strike won it for the hosts. Even the notoriously taciturn Capello was overwhelmed.
“Beating Real caused me a special emotion,” he said. “It’s the first time I have celebrated like that. I’d like to try it again.”
Morata ruins ‘El Clasico’ dreams With Barcelona lying in wait in the 2015 Champions League final, Madrid were hoping to face their arch rivals in a dream showdown.
But one of their former players had other ideas as Juventus reached the final for the first time in 12 years.
The Turin side won the semi-final first leg 2-1, but Real got back in it at the Bernabeu through Cristiano Ronaldo’s 23rd-minute penalty after James Rodriguez was fouled by Giorgio Chiellini.
Yet Juve refused to buckle and Alvaro Morata blasted past Iker Casillas in the 57th minute. Gareth Bale and Rodriguez went close, but Massimiliano Allegri’s team survived the late onslaught.