The Ballon d'Or, the premier individual accolade in the world of football has been the personal property of this era's two iconic players, Portugal's Cristiano Ronaldo and Argentine magician Lionel Messi for well over a decade now. With 5 Ballon d'Ors to his name, Portugal and Juventus goal machine, Cristiano Ronaldo is tied with Messi for most wins of the glamorous honour.
The mercurial striker, however, has seen a sharp decline in his fortunes this season, with him unable to inspire Juventus toChampions League glory with the Old Lady knocked out by a youthful Ajax Amsterdam side in the Quarterfinals. After dominating the Champions League as its record goal scorer for well over a decade, this is the first season since 2009-10 where Ronaldo has not featured in the premier European club competition's semi-finals.
The Juventus and former Real Madrid and Manchester United talisman has had a poor 2018-19 season going by his lofty standards, standing a dismal 3rd in the Italian Seria A goalscoring charts behind Sampdoria's Fabio Quagliarella and Atalanta's Duvan Zapata. With only 21 league goals this season, he is way off the pace in terms of the race for the European Golden Boot, ranking only 8th in the standings which is topped by Messi with 34 league goals and Paris Saint-Germain's Kylian Mbappe with 30.
Massimiliano Allegri's Juventus side did secure their 8th consecutive Italian Seria A title with ease this season, but surprisingly crashed out of the Coppa Italia (Italian Cup), getting eliminated by lowly Atalanta. Ronaldo's arrival to Turn was supposed to galvanise the Italian giants to challenge for the UEFA Champions League title but the Portuguese ace's poor form has seen things not go according to plan.
In this article, we try to break down five key reasons Ronaldo's best seasons are behind him and that he is unlikely to lift the Ballon d'Or again in his career.
#5-Juventus does not have the pedigree to go all the way in the Champions League
Massimiliano Allegri has guided Juventus to two Champions League finals in his five years in charge but his team has faltered in both, losing 3-1 to an MSN-inspired Barcelona in 2014-15 and then again to Zinedine Zidane and Cristiano Ronaldo-led Real Madrid (4-1) in 2016-17. Despite having one of the most organised defences in Europe at the crucial final juncture of Europe's top competition, Allegri has lacked the killer instinct to bring the trophy home.
Despite quarterfinal exits last season and now, embarrassingly this season too, the Juventus President, Andre Agnelli had come out and made it clear that Allegri will stay on as manager. Clearly this shows that the Juve management is unlikely to make a change at the top which means their results in the Champions League are unlikely to change next season as well.
Four out of the five Ballon d'Or Ronaldo has won over his long and illustrious career have come on the back of Champions League title triumphs and this lack of ambition and pedigree from Juventus' side hurts his chances of tasting the Continental glory again. Given their defensive mainstays Giorgio Chiellini and Andrea Barzagli are nearing retirement age, a major rebuilding process is also required at Turin to turn the Italian Champions into an outfit that can mount a serious UEFA Champions League title challenge.
They lacked their signature midfield steel against Ajax and are reportedly on the lookout for quality central midfielders, with Manchester United's Paul Pogba reportedly being considered. What is for sure is that Juventus without a radical change in personnel and management are unlikely to support Ronaldo in his quest for a record 6th Ballon d'Or.
#4-Portugal is unlikely to challenge for any major international trophies for the rest of CR7s career
Cristiano Ronaldo ably led a mediocre Portuguese team to their first ever major international trophy in 2016 by winning the European Championships (Euros). But Portugal's best players in the tournament, centre back Pepe of FC Porto and Jose Fonte of OGC Lille are nearing retirement and will in all probability not be available for the 2020 Euro. After a dismal showing in the 2018 World Cup, the current crop of Portugal do not look equipped to support Ronaldo to any major international trophy.
Fernando Santos' Portugal side has slipped to 7th in the latest FIFA Rankings and while there are a handful of world class talents like Manchester City's Bernardo Silva and Wolverhampton Wanderer's Ruben Neves, the majority of the youngsters expected to mature into superstars have flopped including Bayern Munich's Renato Sanches, Barcelona's Nelson Semedo, Sevilla's Andre Silva and Real Betis' WIlliam Carvalho.
#3-The Messi Factor
The most iconic rivalry of this footballing era has become largely one-sided this season, with Messi blowing away Ronaldo in terms of goals and assists this season. The mercurial Argentine magician has racked up an incredible 46 goals in all competitions this season, almost single handedly propelling Barcelona to the UEFA Champions League semi-finals.
Ronaldo meanwhile has managed only 27 goals in all competitions this season for Juventus. Having wrapped up the La Liga title race two weeks back, the Blaugrana are looking to complete a domestic double with them having already booked a place in the Copa del Rey finals where they face Valencia.
The magisterial 'Messiah' is currently leading the race for the European Golden Boot, the La Liga Pichichi Award for Top Scorer as well as the UEFA Champions League Goalscoring charts and seems destined to win this season's Ballon d'Or. With the Barcelona captain seemingly in the form of his life, Ronaldo's chances for another Ballon d'Or seems like a long shot. The fact that Messi is only 31 while Ronaldo is already 34 does not help matters.
#2-Competition from up and coming young players
Messi is however, only one among many players Ronaldo must compete with for the coveted Ballon d'Or title. Neymar mentioned the Ballon d'Or as his clear stated goal that prompted him to push for a move to Paris Saint-Germain and if injury had not played spoilsport, he would have had another stellar season for the French giants.
Having played just 16 games in Ligue 1, Neymar wracked up 14 goals and 6 assists. In a season where he missed the majority of PSG's games due to a foot injury, the Brazilian dribbler also managed 5 goals and 2 assists in 6 Champions League outings and has better goals per game and assists per game ratios than Ronaldo.
Another clear competitor emerging is French wonderkid Kylian Mbappe who has had a fantastic season for French champions PSG, racking up 30 goals in Ligue 1. Coming in second to Lionel Messi in the European Golden Boot race, the 20-year-old Frenchman has enjoyed the goalscoring burden in Paris in the absence of Neymar and Edinson Cavani. The fact that Neymar is only 27 and Mbappe is just 20 doesnt bode well for Ronaldo's future chances at Ballon d'Or glory.
#1-The Age Factor
He might be perhaps the fittest footballer the world has ever seen but age catches up with the best of players. Ronaldo turned 34 this season. Although the ace goal machine has adapted his game to a more poacher-like style, his age seems to be catching upto him with his goalscoring rate and dominance in the box clearly declining this season. Having lost a yard or two in pace, the former ace dribbler's dribbles per game ratio has come down massively from 2+ in the 2015-16, 2016-17 seasons to a meagre 1.4 this season.
While his hunger for titles and new challenges continues seemingly unabated, whether his age will allow him to produce the kind of performances that saw him rack up 5 Ballon d'Ors remains to be seen and seems unlikely. But if any 34 year old can mount a challenge for the premier individual title in World Football, it will be Cristiano Ronaldo
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