Cristiano Ronaldo beats Lionel Messi in greatest Ballon d’Or season vote

Cristiano Ronaldo’s 2008 edition has been named the winner of the new B.O.A.T. (Greatest Ballon d’Or of All Time) award, created by French magazine France Football to recognize the greatest Ballon d’Or-winning season in history, MARCA reports.

The Portuguese star won the readers’ vote, finishing ahead of Lionel Messi’s 2012 edition. The competition was not simply about choosing the greatest footballer of all time, but rather the greatest individual Ballon d’Or-winning season. As a result, different versions of Messi and Ronaldo, alongside other legendary winners of the award, were among the candidates, CE Report quotes Kosova Press.

The choice of 2008 was no coincidence. That season marked the first peak of Ronaldo’s career at Manchester United, as he evolved from a spectacular winger into an extraordinary goalscorer.

42 goals and two major trophies in one season

During the 2007/08 campaign, Ronaldo scored 42 goals in 49 appearances across all competitions for Manchester United.

In the Premier League, he scored 31 goals to win the English league’s Golden Boot. In the Champions League, he found the net eight times and finished as the competition’s top scorer.

His performances proved decisive in the success of Sir Alex Ferguson’s team.

Manchester United won the Premier League with 87 points, two more than Chelsea. In the Champions League final in Moscow, United defeated the London club on penalties after a 1–1 draw in regular time.

Ronaldo scored United’s only goal during the match before missing his penalty in the decisive shootout.

His dominance was also reflected in the voting for the 2008 Ballon d’Or.

Ronaldo collected 446 points, finishing comfortably ahead of Messi, who received 281 points, and Fernando Torres, who earned 179. The Portuguese star topped 77 of the 96 journalists’ ballots and was the only player included on every ballot.

In addition to the Ballon d’Or, Ronaldo received other individual honors for his outstanding season, including the FIFPro World Player of the Year award.

At just 23 years old, he had already established himself among the best footballers on the planet.

Messi, Ronaldo and football legends compete

According to the list published by MARCA, the B.O.A.T. award featured editions of players who had won the Ballon d’Or at least twice during their careers.

Alongside Ronaldo and Messi, the nominees included Ronaldo Nazário, Marco van Basten, Michel Platini, Johan Cruyff, Franz Beckenbauer, Alfredo Di Stéfano, Kevin Keegan and Karl-Heinz Rummenigge.

Voting was open to France Football users, who could participate for a fee of one euro per vote.

According to MARCA, 5,009 people voted more than once.

With this recognition, Cristiano Ronaldo’s 2008 season receives another accolade nearly two decades after his first Ballon d’Or triumph. It was a campaign that combined outstanding statistics, team success and decisive performances in the season’s most important matches.

Photo: Instagram/cristiano