Spain and Real Madrid forward Cristiano Ronaldo has won the Ballon d’Or world footballer of the year award for the second year in a row.Cristiano beat Barcelona forward Lionel Messi and Bayern Munich goalkeeper Manuel Neuer to the award.
Ronaldo won 37.66 percent of the vote, compared to 15.76 for Messi and 15.72 for Neuer.
the Portuguese captain netted 51 goals in 47 appearances last season as Real secured a record-extending 10th Champions League title and won the King’s Cup.
His tally included 17 goals in the Champions League, a record for a single edition of a Europe’s elite club competition
Since then, he has scored a stunning 26 goals in 17 La Liga matches and looks set to looks set to smash the biggest total for a season in Spain’s top flight of 50 scored by Messi in 2011-12. He also became Portugal’s leading scorer with 52 goals.
Messi, meanwhile, became the all-time leading scorer in La Liga and the Champions League with two hat-tricks in the space of four days.
Three goals against Sevilla took his La Liga total to 253, before a treble against Apoel Nicosia set a Champions League scoring record of 74 goals.
Messi was more prominent internationally, helping Argentina reach their first World Cup final since 1990 where they lost 1-0 to Germany.
Neuer was a key figure for Germany and redefined the goalkeeper’s role by often coming out of his area to clear attacks, almost in a sweeper’s role.
Colombia’s James Rodriguez won the Puskas award for the best goal, a spectacular volley on the turn for Colombia in their World Cup match against Uruguay. Nadine Kessler of VfL Wolfsburg and Germany won the women’s Player of the Year award.
Joachim Loew won the Coach of the Year of the award after leading Germany to the World Cup title in Brazil, finishing ahead of Real Madrid’s Carlo Ancelotti and Atletico Madrid’s Diego Simeone in the poll.
FIFPro XI: Neuer, Lahm, Silva, Luiz, Ramos, Kroos, Iniesta, Di Maria, Messi, Ronaldo, Robben.