Ronaldo level with Leo on 5 Ballon wins
CRISTIANO Ronaldo has won the Ballon d’Or for a fifth time to move level with rival Lionel Messi.
The Real Madrid forward was named the winner of France Football’s prestigious award at a ceremony in Paris last night.
The award caps a year in which Ronaldo (pictured) has won LaLiga, the Champions League and the Spanish Super Cup with Real Madrid, as well as helping Portugal qualify for the 2018 World Cup.
“I feel very happy, it’s a fantastic moment in my career, I’ve been waiting for this for a long time,” the 32-year-old said in the ceremony at the Eiffel Tower. “This year has been great, we won the Champions League and La Liga and, on a personal level, I was a top scorer in the Champions League. “Trophies help win these awards and we have to thank my colleagues from Madrid and Portugal, it was very important for me.”
Messi, the only other player to have won the award since 2008, finished second in the voting while Neymar, who joined Paris St Germain in a world-record transfer deal this summer, was third.
Ronaldo previously won the award in 2008, 2013, 2014 and 2016.
Ronaldo and Messi stand alone with five wins, two ahead of the three managed by Michel Platini, Johan Cruyff and Marco van Basten.
Ronaldo has had an outstanding 2017, helping Madrid to a LaLiga, Champions League and Spanish Super Cup treble this year.
The Portugal international has scored a total of 49 goals in all competitions for club and country, and became the first player in Champions League history to score in each of his club’s group-stage matches.
Chelsea’s N’Golo Kante was eighth in the voting, the highest-placed of the seven Premier League players nominated, with Tottenham’s Harry Kane 10th.
Manchester City’s Kevin De Bruyne was 14th, Chelsea playmaker Eden Hazard 19th and Manchester United goalkeeper David De Gea 20th.
Liverpool pair Sadio Mane and Philippe Coutinho were 23rd and 29th respectively. Sky Blues Reporter A TOTAL of nine players out of 36 named on the teamsheet for Sunday’s FA Cup match between Coventry City and Boreham Wood were products of the Sky Blues highly productive Academy.
Eight were among Mark Robins’s 18-man squad and one, Shaun Jeffers, representing the opposition with eight in total playing a part in the fiercely competitive second round tie at the Ricoh Arena.
Lee Burge, Jordan Willis, Ryan Haynes and Ben Stevenson are more established graduates from the Alan Higgs Centre production line while Jordan Shipley, Jordan Ponticelli and Devon KellyEvans have emerged this season.
But there’s one player who is creeping up the blind side and really caught skipper Michael Doyle’s eye – a player who could follow in the Irishman’s footsteps and one day lead out the first team wearing the coveted armband.
Central midfielder Tom Bayliss went on for the captain in the 84th minute, gaining some valuable senior experience to add to the 15 minutes he was handed on his debut against West Bromwich From left Jordan Shipley, Jordan Ponticelli and Devon Kelly-Evans. Right, Tom Bayliss Albion Under-21s in the Checkatrade Trophy last month. “It’s great to see young players getting their chance and grasping it,” said 36-year-old Doyle of last year’s Under-18s skipper. “Tom Bayliss getting his FA Cup debut on Sunday, for me, he’s an outstanding player. “I have watched him for weeks now since he has come in to train with us and I’ve been really impressed. “He has got all the attributes; size, he’s good on the ball, gets box to box and can score a goal, so someone like him, for me, he just keeps getting better and better.” He added: “I am delighted that he played on Sunday because he’s been champing to be about it. He’s got a good manner about him and way he goes about things, the way he holds himself. As I say, he has all the attributes but that’s nothing new. A lot of people have known about Tom at this club for a long time.
“I didn’t know about him until I came back here in the summer but when I trained with him in the preseason he certainly left a mark and he’s one of a number in a good group of Under-23s there, so that’s brilliant.”
As for whether he intends to take Bayliss under his wing and regard as his protégé, Doyle – who expects incredibly high standards from his team-mates – revealed there’s no special treatment in store for the teenager.
“For him and any of the young players, once they are in the first team environment I will try to help them and I will also criticise them,” he said. “I just treat them as normal.” And while Doyle is delighted to see so many young players progress through the Sky Blue youth ranks, he firmly believes there’s a time and place for including them, and that has to be in a successful team.
“As one of the older heads that’s what you need and is great for the level that we’re at,” he said.
“The important thing for us is that we keep fighting to win games. It’s not about blooding young players.
“Hopefully this club is at the lowest it can go and hopefully these young players can be a part of a promotion side because that’s what we want.
“We don’t want young players coming in and getting experience in a middle of the table team because that’s no good for anyone. They will learn more getting promotions and things because once you get a little taste of that you want it every year. “That’s what’s important for me. “I know that when I went into Portsmouth that was the environment with a lot of young players but fighting relegation battles every year and it wasn’t good for them.
“So hopefully the more experienced players can help them and try to get promotion because I think that will help bring their careers on so much.”
He has got all the attributes; size, he’s good on the ball, gets box to box and can score a goal, so someone like him, for me, he just keeps getting better and better.