Cristiano Ronaldo misses out on 30-men Ballon d’Or 2023 nominee list for first time in 20 years

Al-Nassr skipper, Cristiano Ronaldo has not been able to make it to the 30-man list of shortlisted players for the Ballon d’Or award for the first time in 20 years. The Portuguese international has won this award a total of five times with the last winning it way back in 2017. The striker has made an exceptional start to his Saudi Pro League career. Ronaldo joined the club this year in January this year.

The former Real Madrid player was playing for Manchester United last season. He was fired from the team after a conflict with the manager and team management. The 38-year-old started just 10 of 16 games across competitions, scoring three goals and providing two assists for the side.

God just gave him a talent, and Cristiano Ronaldo had to work for it: Patrice Evra

If we talk about this competitor, Lionel Messi, he has won two more awards than Ronaldo (5) is the favorite to win this year as well. The Argentina skipper had a brilliant FIFA World Cup 2022 and he went on to lift the Cup for the first time in his career. On the other hand, Ronaldo had a really disappointing World Cup, where he had just one goal in five games. He was dropped from the team after these five matches in the World Cup.

Ronaldo’s former Manchester United teammate Patrice Evra thinks that Messi will have more Ballon d’Or to show if he replicates Ronaldo’s work ethic “I feel like Messi. God just gave him a talent, and Cristiano had to work for it. He had the GOAtalent, but he had to work for it. If Messi had the same work ethic as Ronaldo, he would probably have like 15 Ballon d’Ors today. I’m just in love with people working hard, so that’s why I pick Ronaldo over Messi,” Evra was quoted as saying on GOAL.