Tuesday 12 January 2016 13:56, UK
Cristiano Ronaldo won the Ballon d'Or in 2013 and 2014, scoring regularly and even firing Real Madrid to La Decima in Lisbon. But having seen Lionel Messi reclaim the trophy for 2015 and with him turning 31 next month, it's debatable whether Ronaldo will be able to bounce back again.
Sky Sports' Spanish football expert Guillem Balague wrote a biography of Ronaldo and certainly has his doubts. While Balague believes it's a testament to the Portuguese forward's remarkable work ethic that he was able to compete with Messi for so long, he fears those days could now be over.
"It has been extraordinary that Cristiano Ronaldo has been able to keep pace with Lionel Messi for this long," Balague tells Sky Sports. "To me, Ronaldo is the greatest goalscorer in the history of the game but Messi is the greatest player in the history of the game.
"To be able to keep that level, speaks so much about Cristiano the person and his hunger. But, Messi is Messi and in 10 years' time, we will look back and say that, 'This was the Messi era and Cristiano was close to him for a while, wasn't he?'
"That will be reflected in Ballons d'Or and in titles won already, which currently stands at 26. Messi has scored 24 goals in 26 finals. Nobody in the history of the game has done that and the Ballons d'Or simply reflect that."
Ronaldo, of course, has scored in plenty of big games himself. However, there are signs that he is finding it more and more difficult to influence these matches. "He will still score goals, a lot of goals and that will confirm him as the greatest goal scorer ever," adds Balague.
"But that doesn't give you the Ballon d'Or. I don't think Ronaldo will win it again, partly because I feel the way he is playing now - he scores loads against smaller sides and not in the big games - he doesn't appear as much in the bigger games."
There is some evidence to support that argument. While Ronaldo has scored 25 goals in 25 games for Real Madrid this season, delve deeper and the signs are there. Four of his goals came in one game against Malmo, and another five in the thrashing of Espanyol.
In contrast, in the six matches that Real Madrid have played this season against teams currently ranked among the top 20 in Europe, Ronaldo has struggled. He has failed to find the net against Barcelona, Atletico Madrid, Sevilla and Valencia as well as in two games against Paris Saint-Germain.
Some of that can be explained by Real Madrid's difficult start to the season under the now departed Rafa Benitez and there must be a hope that more fluency will be evident under Zinedine Zidane. But Balague believes there are underlying problems for which Ronaldo is culpable.
"He belongs to a team that is not formed, that has no shape and that doesn't allow them to fight for the titles," says Balague. "He is partly to blame for that because he wants the team to play for him. Messi also wants the team to play for him but he has players willing to do so. Cristiano doesn't."
