Seven days ago today, Cristiano Ronaldo was crowned the best player in the world at FIFA’s The Best awards ceremony in London.
The Portuguese was honoured with the top prize after a season in which he fired Real Madrid to a La Liga and Champions League double.
Lionel Messi has scored more goals and provided more assists than Ronaldo so far in 2017 but the voters clearly remember what the Real Madrid star did in the latter stages of last season’s Champions League.
Indeed, it’s honestly hard to forget.
The 32-year-old scored five goals in the quarter-final win over Bayern Munich before notching a hat-trick against Atletico Madrid in the semis.
He added another two goals in the 4-1 win over Juventus in the final. Talk about producing your best when it really matters.
And the voting wasn’t even close. Ronaldo received 43.16 per cent of the votes, more than double Messi’s 19.25 per cent.
“I’m so glad to be here, and honoured to win this trophy again,” Ronaldo said after collecting the award for the second straight year.
“Thank you to my team-mates and congratulations to them too. I'm so blessed – thanks also to the supporters of Real Madrid, and everyone who helped me to achieve this.”
Ronaldo's Instagram live
Ronaldo has never shied away from expressing his belief that he is the greatest player in the game - in an interview with Italian magazine Undici last year, the forward said he has been the best player over the last two decades - and his latest triumph has given him further reason to believe that’s the case.
The former Manchester United ace hosted an Instagram live recently and a comment from one fan caught his eye.
“Cristiano, you’re the best,” it read.
Ronaldo responded
Ronaldo’s response was typical Ronaldo.
“Of course I’m the best. Check the last Monday, who win The Best?” he said, before bursting into laughter.
His self-confidence is to be admired.
Yet that confidence didn’t help Ronaldo last night. The Portugal international was helpless to prevent Real Madrid losing 2-1 at Girona as Zinedine Zidane’s side fell eight points behind Barcelona in La Liga.