Cristiano Ronaldo has surprisingly made the list of 2022 Ballon d’Or award nominees after a disappointing spell with Manchester United.
In contrast, Lionel Messi, Ronaldo’s arch-rival, has dropped out of the list after a disappointing spell with Paris Saint Germain in his first season in French Ligue 1.
Both Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi have won the Ballon d’Or a record 12 times combined. Lionel Messi has it 7 times, while Ronaldo has won it 5 times.
Christian Ronaldo first laid his hands on the Ballon d’Or in 2008 when he played for Manchester United under Sir Alex Ferguson. The 37-year-old won the Champions League, the Premier League, the Community Shield, the FA Cup, Club World Cup, and the UEFA Super Cup that year.
Ronaldo went ahead to emerge as FIFA Men’s player of the year. That was the first time the Portugal international laid his hand on the trophy as he rose to stardom in football.
Ronaldo left Manchester United for Real Madrid in 2009 and pulled an astonishing record of Ballon d’Or with the Spanish giants.
He has won the Ballon d’Or a record 4 times with Real Madrid after they stunned European football by winning the Champions League back-to-back in 2016, 2017, and 2018 under the tutelage of former coach Zinedine Zidane.
Ronaldo left Real Madrid for Juventus in 2018, winning consecutive series A trophies with the club. He also won the Copa Italia and the Italian Super Cup.
Ronaldo won four of his Ballon d’Or with Real Madrid, the last being in 2017. Despite a superb run with the Old Ladies of Turin, Ronaldo was not considered for the final, although he made it to the 30-man shortlist.
As it stands, the Portugal international has made the most Ballon d’Or appearances in the history of the award with 18 appearances. He has also beaten Lionel Messi to the most runners-up 7 times.
His Ballon d’Or drought began with his departure from Real Madrid to Juventus. Ronaldo has regularly appeared on the 30-man shortlist for the Ballon d’Or, although he has failed to clinch the title in recent times.
The Portugal international has made it to the 30-man shortlist for the 2022 Ballon d’Or again despite a poor and disappointing season with Manchester United.
Manchester United are not qualified for the 2022-2023 Champions League campaign after a poor 2021-2022 Premier League campaign.
Nevertheless, Ronaldo scored 24 goals for the club last season against Messi’s 11 at PSG.
Although he has made it to the award’s 30-man list, Ronaldo’s chances of winning the 2022 Ballon d’Or are slim, when compared with Benzema (44 goals last season with five titles), Sadio Mane (24 goals last season with four titles), Mohamed Salah (32 goals last season with three titles), and Lewandowski (35 goals last season with two titles).
