Euro star

Manchester United and Portugal winger Cristiano Ronaldo wins the 2008 Ballon d’Or with 446 points ahead of Barcelona’s Lionel Messi and Liverpool’s Fernando Torres

PARIS: Manchester United and Portugal winger Cristiano Ronaldo was awarded the Ballon d’Or on Tuesday after inspiring the English club to the Champions League and Premier League double this year.

Barcelona forward Lionel Messi came second and Liverpool striker Fernando Torres third in a poll of 96 journalists from all over the world organised by France Football, the French magazine said on its website (www.francefootball.fr).

Ronaldo earned 446 points with Messi on 281 points and Torres on 179. “It’s one of the most beautiful days in my life. I’ve been dreaming of this trophy since I was a child,” Ronaldo, who will be officially presented with the trophy during a French TV show on Sunday, told France Football.

Ronaldo is the third Portuguese player to win  he award after Eusebio in 1965 and Luis Figo in 2000. “I was not scared (of not winning the award) because I was aware of what I had done in the season,” Ronaldo added. “Thank you to my team mates, who helped me the be the best, thank you to those who set me up for these goals. I will now work to be good on Saturday. This morning, arriving at the training session, I will be the same lad. What is sure is that I want to win again because it is so good.”

The 23-year-old Ronaldo follows former United greats Denis Law (1964), Bobby Charlton (1966) and George Best (1968) as a winner of the prize previously known as the European Footballer of the Year award. He scored 42 goals for the club last season.  Earlier this year, he also became only the second player to win England’s Footballer of the Year award in successive seasons. However, he failed to make an impact at the European Championship in Austria and Switzerland as Portugal bowed out to eventual runners-up Germany in the quarterfinals.

European champions Spain had four players in the poll’s top-10, with Torres, Real Madrid goalkeeper Iker Casillas and Barcelona midfielder Xavi Hernandez in third, fourth and fifth place respectively.

During a pre-season dominated by speculation about a move to Real Madrid, Ronaldo underwent ankle surgery but he has scored eight goals in 11 league games since returning in September. Ronaldo, who was second to Brazil playmaker Kaka last year, is the first Portuguese to win the award since Figo in 2000 and the first Premier League player since Michael Owen in 2001. With England having failed to make it to the European championship finals, the first Briton in the Ballon d’Or standings is Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard, 10th on 28 points.