Cristiano Ronaldo has been voted Portugal's Player of the Year once again.

The Juventus superstar has now received the accolade a record 10 times in his illustrious career.

Ronaldo played a significant role in Juve's Serie A title victory, scoring 21 league goals in 2018/19.

He also contributed to Portugal's victory in the UEFA Nations League, scoring a stunning hat-trick in the semi-final against Switzerland.

But despite the statistics and goals, there was one Portuguese star who warranted the award far more than Ronaldo this year and that man is Bernardo Silva.

To say the Manchester City playmaker had an incredible 2018/19 would be an understatement.

Silva was City's finest player last season as they won the Premier League, FA Cup, Carabao Cup and Community Shield.

He was then named the UEFA Nations League Player of the Tournament, also collecting the Man of the Match award in the final versus Holland.

What more has he got to do to beat Ronaldo?

A lot of it's probably down to the statistics. Silva only managed seven league goals in 2018/19 compared to Ronaldo's 21.

But throughout the entirety of last season, Silva was not only City's key man, he was also Portugal's, excelling in their UEFA Nations League qualifiers.

In fact, Ronaldo only played for Portugal twice in 2018/19, in the UEFA Nations League semi-final and final.

By contrast, Silva made eight appearances for the national team.

Even since Ronaldo collected his first Portugal Player of the Year award in 2007, he has been pipped to the accolade on two separate occasions.

Atletico Madrid's Simao (2010) and Real Madrid colleague Pepe (2014) beat the legendary forward then, when he was arguably an even better footballer.

Maybe the award is simply a popularity contest these days...