PARIS , DEC 07 (TNS): Cristiano Ronaldo has won his fifth Ballon d’Or award, beating Lionel Messi and Neymar to the prize to match his Barcelona rival’s record haul.
The organiser, France Football, announced Ronaldo as the winner in a ceremony in Paris on Thursday evening after he was voted the world’s best player by a selection of leading journalists, national coaches and their captains.
Ronaldo scored five goals against Bayern Munich across two legs in the quarter-finals, including a hat-trick at the Bernebeu, struck another hat-trick to knockout Atletico Madrid in the semi-finals and scored twice in the final as Real saw off Juventus 4-1 in Cardiff.
Messi came second in the voting after finishing on top of La Liga’s scoring charts with 37 goals at the end of the 2016-17 season as Barca missed out on the title by three points.
Neymar finished third after an impressive year both at Barcelona and PSG.
