Path Of Life

Some people may be thinking the Ballon d'Or is just another award for Cristiano Ronaldo, the latest in a long line of trophies recognising his astonishing achievements last season.

In the last seven months, he's been named PFA Player of the Year, Football Writers' Player of the Year and FIFPro World Player of the Year. But this one caps the lot. Ronny appears to be genuinely thrilled to win this, the most prestigious individual honour in world football.

I'm delighted for him. It would have been ludicrous if he had been pipped to the award by Lionel Messi or Fernando Torres, both of whom enjoyed successful seasons but were not as consistently devastating as Ronaldo.

And let's not forget that in being heralded as the world's greatest player by 77 out of the 96 journalists on the voting panel for the France Football magazine gong, Ronaldo joins a very distinguished list indeed.

The last three United winners were George Best (1968), Bobby Charlton (1965) and Denis Law (1964). After scoring a phenomenal 42 goals in the 2007/08 Double triumph, perhaps Ronaldo has already assured he will be mentioned in the same breath as that trio in years to come.

But one way for him to guarantee that is to ignore overtures from the continent, stay at this great club and continue to torment opposition defences for many more seasons.

"This is one that I want to win again because it is so good," Ronaldo said after scooping the award. "Therefore, I will wake and I will say to myself 'I want to be even better'." Let's hope he fulfills that ambition in a United shirt.

from www.manutd.com