Football
Dermot Corrigan, Madrid correspondent 9y

Brazil great Ronaldo backs Cristiano Ronaldo for Ballon d'Or

Ex-Brazil international Ronaldo says Cristiano Ronaldo deserves to win the Ballon d'Or this year due to his "incredible" and "unthinkable" goal-scoring numbers.

The Real Madrid star, who won the award in 2008 and 2013, has been shortlisted again for this year's prize along with Barcelona's Lionel Messi and Bayern Munich goalkeeper Manuel Neuer.

The Portugal international remains a firm favourite with the bookmakers, thanks to his record 17 Champions League goals as Madrid won a 10th European Cup last season, and 23 strikes in his first 13 La Liga games this term.

"O Fenomeno," a winner of the award in 1997 and 2002, said in AS that the sheer number of goals his namesake has scored should make the decision easy for the voters.

"I believe it is more than clear that this year Cristiano will win again," Ronaldo said. "What he is doing is incredible. His numbers were unthinkable in my time. He deserves it."

He added: "He has a lot of quality and he uses it in a very intelligent way. It is incredible to watch him playing he mixes very well his technical quality with his physical strengths."

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