#360debate: Will Cristiano Ronaldo be the rightful winner of the Ballon d’Or?

The Portuguese's 31 goals in 30 La Liga appearances in conjunction with leading Real Madrid to UEFA Champions League and Copa del Rey titles has put him as firm favourite to win a second consecutive title.

A poor World Cup in Brazil could work against him. Still, the question remains: Will Cristiano Ronaldo be a worthy Ballon d’Or winner?

Our #360debate today is: Will Cristiano Ronaldo be the rightful winner of the Ballon d'Or?

Andy West, La Liga correspondent, says YES

Cristiano Ronaldo was the outstanding individual in world football in 2014 and should therefore be presented with his second consecutive Ballon d’Or today.

That’s fairly straightforward, isn’t it? If you need evidence, just look at the numbers. Ronaldo registered 61 goals in the calendar year, including four hat-tricks and one run of 11 consecutive games with a goal (February to April) and another of eight straight scoring games (August to October).

Not bad, huh? Oh, he also finished last season as the leading scorer in both La Liga and the Champions League – setting a new all-time competition record with 17 – and has started the new campaign by averaging nearly two goals per league game to put him on course to set another all-time single-season record.

As for the other contenders, Lionel Messi shouldn’t even be on the threeman shortlist at all (Diego Godin should, incidentally).

Okay, he’s scored a decent number of goals, but he notably failed to deliver when it most mattered as Barcelona endured their first season without a trophy since 2008.

He was often a peripheral presence for Argentina during the World Cup, despite ludicrously ending up with the award as the best player of the tournament.

Although Neuer impressed during the World Cup for Germany, he was hardly stretched as Bayern Munich enjoyed a cakewalk in the Bundesliga, and was powerless to prevent a humiliating thumping at the hands of Ronaldo’s Real in his most important club game of the season, the Champions league semi-final second leg.

Of course, a significant aspect of personal greatness can be measured in the number of trophies won, and Ronaldo fared rather well in this aspect as Madrid won the Copa del Rey (beating Messi’s Barcelona), the Champions League, the UEFA Super Cup and the FIFA Club World Cup.

As for the World Cup, it’s hardly Ronaldo’s fault that he has the misfortune of playing in the same international team as Nani.

Would Cristiano Ronaldo be a worthy winner of the Ballon d’Or? The only sensible question is who should come second.

James Piercy, deputy editor, says NO

There’s only one man who will surely be clutching the Ballon d’Or trophy tonight, but it shouldn’t be as much of a formality as is being forcast. In an age where we now have fans of players as well as teams, Cristiano Ronaldo’s acolytes point to his scoring
record as the primary piece of evidence supporting his case.

At face value 61 goals in 58 games for club and country is remarkable but, if that is a major factor in swaying the voting, it’s
not that much better than Lionel Messi’s 58 in 66.

In breaking down his 61 goals, 28 were inconsequential i.e were not opening goals, equalisers, goals that put Madrid ahead or match-winners. The sheer volume he scored dictates that is likely, but at the same time still dimishes their significance in the grand scheme of things.

Of his 39 in La Liga in the calendar year, 14 – 35 per cent – came against top- 10 opposition. For context, 16 of Messi’s 35 league goals over the same period were against those sides (45 per cent). 

Ronaldo’s success is almost as notable for the matches he didn’t perform in as much as the ones he did. The 4-0 triumph over Bayern Munich in the Champions League semi-final second leg was the high water mark for Carlo Ancelotti’s side but their three best performers on that night were Sergio Ramos, Angel Di Maria and Gareth Bale.

He was also largely irrelevant in the final against Atletico, only appearing to smash in a 120th minute penalty with the score at 3-1. The very best perform when the stakes are at their highest, not against Elche in a Sunday afternoon stroll.

There are worthier candidates either overlooked or lacking the populist appeal: Diego Godin, central to Atletico Madrid’s remarkable season, Philipp Lahm – who completed a clean sweep of captaining sides to major honours (within the space of 15 months), Di Maria – whose creativity was equally as influential to Madrid’s season as Ronaldo, and then Manuel Neuer, reinventing the position of the goalkeeper and who also won a Bundesliga title, a DFB Pokal and the World Cup. 

Ronaldo is the obvious victor, the poster boy of individualism, the standout stats line. But that doesn’t automatically mean he’s the best.

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