Chapter 396: Restoration
As the new week began, media outlets across Europe focused on the imminent announcement of the 2016 Ballon d'Or winner. Almost all media predicted that Cristiano Ronaldo had triumphed over Bruno Fernandes and Lionel Messi in the competition, with the Real Madrid star set to claim his fourth Ballon d'Or trophy.
Most media outlets believed that Ronaldo's win was well-deserved. As the captain and leader of the Portuguese national team, he led them to the European Championship title. Additionally, as Real Madrid's star player, he helped them win the Champions League and the UEFA Super Cup. The FIFA Club World Cup, already in progress, also seemed a sure victory for Real Madrid. Despite narrowly missing the La Liga title by one point, Real Madrid's 90-point tally was still impressive.
Regarding individual performance, Ronaldo scored 54 goals and provided 17 assists in 2016 for both Real Madrid and the Portuguese national team. For Real Madrid, his stats were 38 goals and 14 assists, while for Portugal, he netted 16 goals and contributed 3 assists, including 6 goals and 3 assists during the European Championship.
His individual honors included being the top scorer of the 2015-2016 Champions League with 16 goals and being named in the Champions League, La Liga, and European Championship best XI. Ronaldo's 2016 performance was dominant in Europe and arguably the world.
However, not everyone agreed that Ronaldo's victory was without controversy. Many believed that his national team teammate, Bruno Fernandes, had a better year in 2016.
For the national team, while Ronaldo was the captain and spiritual leader, Bruno's personal performance was superior. Ronaldo's 2016 stats for Portugal were 16 goals and 3 assists in 13 matches, which seemed perfect until compared to Bruno's stats: 20 goals and 9 assists in 13 matches, averaging more than 2 goal involvements per game.
At the European Championship, Ronaldo scored 6 goals and provided 3 assists in 7 matches. Bruno, on the other hand, scored 8 goals and provided 3 assists, earning the Golden Boot and the MVP award. In the final, after Ronaldo was injured early, Bruno's hat-trick led Portugal to victory over France, securing their first major tournament trophy.
Many believed that without Bruno, Portugal would not have beaten the formidable French team in the final. While Ronaldo was the team's spiritual leader, Bruno was the undeniable core and the main contributor to their success.
At the club level, Bruno's achievements were also impressive. As the captain of Udinese, he led the modest Italian side to the Champions League quarter-finals, where they were narrowly eliminated. In Serie A, he guided Udinese to defend their title with a remarkable 94 points, defeating the strong Juventus team.
Though Serie A's value might not match that of the Champions League, the overall strength of Udinese compared to Real Madrid suggests that winning the Serie A title was equally significant, if not more challenging, than Real Madrid's Champions League victory.
Individually, Bruno scored 39 goals and provided 29 assists in Serie A, winning the Golden Boot and narrowly missing out on the European Golden Shoe to Luis Suárez by one goal. In the Champions League, he scored 14 goals and provided 5 assists in 10 matches. If Udinese had not been eliminated in the quarter-finals, it is uncertain whether Ronaldo would have won the Champions League Golden Boot.
After transferring to Manchester United for a world-record €200 million in the summer, Bruno quickly adapted, leading the once-struggling club towards revival. At the halfway point of the season, United were leading the Premier League by 5 points.
In total, Bruno scored 52 goals and provided 34 assists in 46 matches for Udinese and Manchester United in 2016. Including his national team stats, he scored 72 goals and provided 43 assists in 59 matches, directly contributing to 115 goals and nearly averaging 2 goal involvements per game, breaking Messi's record of 113 goal involvements set four years earlier.
Some also believed that Messi deserved the Ballon d'Or more than Ronaldo. Though Messi's 2016 performance might have seemed slightly inferior to Bruno's and Ronaldo's, the gap was not significant.
As Barcelona's star player, Messi led the team to La Liga, Copa del Rey, and Spanish Super Cup titles, dominating domestically. Internationally, he guided Argentina to the Copa América final, where they narrowly lost to Chile.
Individually, Messi scored 58 goals in 2016 for Argentina and Barcelona, four more than Ronaldo. These media argued that if Ronaldo could win the Ballon d'Or, why not Messi?
However, this opinion mainly came from Catalonia and Argentina, with few others supporting it.
On December 12, at 5:30 PM local time in France, "France Football" began announcing the 2016 Ballon d'Or rankings in reverse order. Eleven players from the 30-man shortlist received no votes. Toni Kroos, Luka Modric, and Dimitri Payet, each with 1 point, were ranked 17th.
At 8 PM local time, after announcing the top six, "France Football" declared Ronaldo the 2016 Ballon d'Or winner before revealing the rest of the top five and the 11 players with no votes.
The final rankings showed that Ronaldo narrowly won: he scored 525 points, with Bruno close behind at 501 points. Messi was third with 207 points, far behind Bruno.
These three were the only players to score over 100 points. Starting from Griezmann in fourth, no one else reached 100 points.
With 173 journalists voting, each ballot counted 5 points, 3 points, and 1 point. The total points available were 1557. Ronaldo and Bruno together took 1026 points, leaving only 531 points for the remaining 17 players, averaging about 31 points each. After Messi took 207 points, the remaining 16 players shared 324 points, averaging just 20 points each.
Regardless, Ronaldo ultimately triumphed, winning his fourth Ballon d'Or, surpassing three-time winners Van Basten, Platini, and Cruyff, and tying with Messi for the most Ballon d'Or wins.
Ronaldo became the first player in Ballon d'Or history to win both the Champions League and the European Championship in the same year. As his teammate, Real Madrid captain Ramos said, "Ronaldo had a great season, the Ballon d'Or is well deserved. The Champions League and European Championship are the best proof."
Pepe also stated in an interview, "Ronaldo had a perfect season. He won the Champions League and the European Championship. He deserves the Ballon d'Or."
At the same time "France Football" officially announced Ronaldo as the 2016 Ballon d'Or winner, Ronaldo was attending the award ceremony with his son, Cristiano Jr. The ceremony was moved up a few days to accommodate Ronaldo's schedule as he traveled to Japan for the Club World Cup semi-finals and final with Real Madrid.
Ronaldo's victory over Bruno and Messi caused a huge stir. When Bruno won the FIFA Ballon d'Or in 2015, ending Messi and Ronaldo's seven-year dominance, many thought a new era was dawning in world football. With Ronaldo over thirty and Messi approaching the same age, many new stars were rising.
However, as 2017 approached, Ronaldo and Messi were still two of the top three players in world football, with Bruno unable to stop their resurgence, winning their eighth Ballon d'Or in the past nine years.
Besides Bruno, another strong contender in 2016 was Atlético Madrid's star Antoine Griezmann. His team reached the Champions League final, and France reached the Euro final, providing him with an excellent platform.
However, Griezmann failed to deliver, losing to Ronaldo in the Champions League final and being outshone by Bruno's hat-trick in the Euro final, missing out on the Ballon d'Or top three.
Bruno and Griezmann couldn't beat Ronaldo in the more professional and less popularity-influenced Ballon d'Or vote, making it even less likely they would do so in the FIFA World Player of the Year award.
(End of Chapter)
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