On Monday night, the same day Argentina’s Lionel Messi pipped him to the Ballon d’Or award given by the ‘France Football’ magazine – for a record sixth time – with Liverpool’s Dutchman Virgil Van Dijk in second place, Ronaldo won the award in Italy for best player and striker of the ‘Serie A’ 2018/19 season.


“It’s an honour to hold this trophy, and I thank my team-mates at Juventus,” said Ronaldo, accepting the award. “I am very happy to play in Italy, in a very difficult championship. Thank you for voting for me. I will try to come back next year.”


The Portuguese captain scored 21 goals in 31 games in his first year in Serie A, making him the fourth-best scorer in the race, behind Fabio Quagliarella of Sampdoria, with 26, Colombia’s Duván Zapatata of Atalanta, with 23, and Poland’s Krzysztof Piatek of Genoa and AC Milan, with 22.