Regal Ronaldo tipped for Best FIFA award

LONDON: Cristiano Ronaldo’s stunning exploits with Real Madrid make him the strong favourite to win the 2017 Best FIFA Men’s Player Award at yesterday’s ceremony in London. The Portuguese superstar, who won last year’s inaugural award, fired Madrid to glory in La Liga and scored 12 goals as they won the Champions League for the third time in four seasons.

He is nominated alongside his eternal rival Lionel Messi and Messi’s former Barcelona team-mate Neymar, now of Paris Saint-Germain. “In the end, Ronaldo is ahead of the others,” Roma icon Francesco Totti told the FIFA website ahead of the ceremony at the London Palladium. “He had an amazing season and also accomplished all of his goals with the most prestigious of teams.”

Should Ronaldo prevail, it will pave the way for him to match Messi’s record of five Ballons d’Or when France Football magazine announce the winner of that award early next year. Ronaldo, 32, won the inaugural Best FIFA Men’s Player Award last year after a six-year merger between the FIFA honour and the Ballon d’Or. Ronaldo previously won the FIFA World Player of the Year award, the precursor to the Best FIFA award, in 2008.

Messi, 30, scored 54 goals last season as Barcelona won the Copa del Rey. The Argentina great has made a superb start to the current campaign, scoring 15 goals for Barcelona and earning his country a place at next year’s World Cup with a magical hat-trick against Ecuador. —AFP