Cristiano Ronaldo comments on winning his fourth Ballon d’Or
“It’s a really great honor to have won my fourth Ballon d’Or. I’m very happy and proud to be receiving this award and I want to thank everyone who works with me and my Real Madrid and Portugal teammates.
When you win it for the first time the feelings are different. I felt great joy and it was like a dream come true. I was 23 or 24 and it was a once-in-a-lifetime moment. My emotions today are similar to that. This is my job, it’s my profession. I always want to be the best and I work hard and make sacrifices to achieve that. It’s really significant for me to have won an award like this one. Obviously, the team comes first and had I not won anything with Real Madrid or Portugal, I wouldn’t be receiving this award.
This has possibly been the best year of my career, both on a team and individual level. Winning something with Portugal for the first time in the nation’s history was something that was missing from my CV and was one of the highlights, but we mustn’t forget the Champions League triumph with Real Madrid, in which I was the competition’s top scorer and scored the best goal. This has likely been the best year of my career.
I’m really happy because I’ve worked hard to achieve this. I feel happy and I have a thought for everyone who has believed in me. My teammates, my friends, those who work for me directly, the people who look after me, the ones who help me to constantly improve and keep my performances levels up year on year, which is no mean feat”.
