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Craig HillCristiano Ronaldo wins the Ballon d'Or for 2008
December 2nd 2008 22:45
Manchester United star Cristiano Ronaldo has won the prestigious Ballon d'Or trophy for 2008, polling 446 points from a maximum of 480, to oust his closest rivals, Lionel Messi and Fernando Torres into 2nd and 3rd place respectively.
The Portugese winger scored an incredible 42 goals as Manchester United won the Champions League and Premier League double last season. Despite a less than spectacular performance at Euro 2008, the world's football journalists had no hesitation voting him for the most prestigious individual award in world football, awarded by France Football magazine.
"It is one of the most beautiful days of my life, something I dreamed of as a child," said the 23-year-old winger.
Ronaldo becomes only the third Portuguese player to lift the famous trophy - after Eusebio and Luis Figo - and the fourth Manchester United player to take the prestigious gong. He is the first Premier League player since Michael Owen in 2001 to scoop the award.
2008 Ballon d'Or voting:
1) Cristiano Ronaldo (Manchester Utd) 446 points
2) Lionel Messi (Barcelona) 281 pts
3) Fernando Torres (Liverpool) 179 pts
4) Iker Casillas (Real Madrid) 133 pts
5) Xavi Hernandez (Barcelona) 97 pts
6) Andriy Arshavin (Zenit St-Petersburg) 64 pts
7) David Villa (Valencia) 55 pts
8) Kaka (AC Milan) 31 pts
9) Zlatan Ibrahimovic (Inter Milan) 30 pts
10) Steven Gerrard (Liverpool) 28 pts
11) Marcos Senna (Villarreal) 16 pts
12) Emmanuel Adebayor (Arsenal) 12 pts
13) Wayne Rooney (Manchester United) 11 pts
14) Sergio Aguero (Atletico Madrid) 10 pts
15) Frank Lampard (Chelsea) 8 pts
16) Franck Ribery (Bayern Munich) 7 pts
17) Samuel Eto'o (Barcelona) 6 pts
18) Gianluigi Buffon (Juventus) 5 pts
19) Michael Ballack (Chelsea), Cesc Fabregas (Arsenal) 4 pts
21) Didier Drogba (Chelsea), Sergio Ramos (Real Madrid), Nemanja Vidic (Manchester United) 3 pts
24) Edwin van der Sar (Manchester United), Ruud van Nistelrooy (Real Madrid), 2 pts
[Source: France Football Magazine]
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