LONDON: Cristiano Ronaldo has caught up with Lionel Messi to become a five-time winner of FIFA’s best player award.
The Real Madrid forward was crowned player of the year on Monday at the FIFA Best ceremony at the London Palladium theater attended by runner-up Messi and third-placed Neymar.
A second successive honor for Ronaldo was expected after a season in which the Portuguese eclipsed his award counterparts in the trophy stakes.
As well as Spanish league and Spanish Super Cup success, Ronaldo scored twice in the Champions League final against Juventus to win European soccer’s elite competition for the third time in four seasons.
Ronaldo’s coach at Madrid, Zinedine Zidane, was crowned coach of the year.
FIFA has shifted its award ceremony from its usual January slot to October so players are judged across a season — based on the typical European schedule — rather than the calendar year.
The women’s award honored the Netherlands’ success at the European Championship in August. Lieke Martens, who scored in the final win over Denmark, won the player’s award and Sarina Wiegman collected the coaching accolade.
The Puskas Award for best goal went to Arsenal striker Olivier Giroud for a scorpion-style kick. The Puskas Award-winning goal from an overhead back-heeled strike came on New Year’s Day in Arsenal’s 2-0 victory over Crystal Palace in the English Premier League.
Ronaldo joins Messi as five-time winner of FIFA player award
Ronaldo joins Messi as five-time winner of FIFA player award
Bayern boss Kompany blasts Mourinho over Vinicius racism row response
- “For me, in terms of leadership, it’s a huge mistake. It’s something that we should not accept,” Kompany said
- “You know what Black players had to go through in the 1960s? Was he there to travel with Eusebio (to) every away game?”
MUNICH: Bayern Munich manager Vincent Kompany delivered a scathing critique of Jose Mourinho’s handling of racism allegations involving Real Madrid’s Vinicius Jr, calling the Benfica coach’s comments a “huge mistake” in leadership.
TV footage showed Benfica’s Gianluca Prestianni covering his mouth with his shirt — a common move by players or coaches to prevent anyone reading their lips — while making a comment that Vinicius and nearby teammates interpreted as a racial slur.
Although Benfica defended their winger, European soccer body UEFA are investigating the allegations of discriminatory behavior during Tuesday’s Champions League playoff first-leg which Real won 1-0 thanks to a goal from Vinicius.
Mourinho said Vinicius had incited the crowd with his goal celebrations while adding that the club was anything but racist because the Portuguese team’s greatest player Eusebio was also Black.
“Jose Mourinho basically attacks the character of Vinicius Jr by bringing in the type of celebration to discredit what Vinicius is doing. For me, in terms of leadership, it’s a huge mistake. It’s something that we should not accept,” Kompany told reporters in a 12-minute response in support of Vinicius.
“On top of it, he mentions the name of Eusebio — to say that Benfica cannot be racist because the best player in the history of Benfica is Eusebio. You know what Black players had to go through in the 1960s? Was he there to travel with Eusebio (to) every away game?
“My dad is a Black person from the 1960s also who made his way. Probably at the time the only option they had is to be quiet, to say nothing, to be above it and to be 10 times better to get a little bit of credit.”
Kompany described incidents of racism during his own career, including when he was captain of the Belgian national team.
He also said he had met “a hundred people” who worked with Mourinho and did not have anything bad to say about him, but that on this occasion the Portuguese manager had made a big mistake, despite fighting to defend his club.
“So I know he’s a good person, I don’t need to judge him as a person. But I know what I’ve heard and I understand maybe what he’s done — he’s made a mistake and it’s something that hopefully in the future won’t happen like this again,” he said.
