Real Madrid’s Karim Benzema Wins Ballon d’Or For Sixth Longest Career Winning Ballon d’Or Award
After winning the Ballon d’Or in 2014 and finishing one behind Lionel Messi last year, Cristiano Ronaldo announced on Twitter on Tuesday that his compatriot, Karim Benzema, has beaten him for the coveted award’s sixth time by winning the 2015 Ballon d’Or.
And although Benzema’s name was on one of those ballots, as this was the one he was mentioned in during Ronaldo’s victory speech on Monday night, it was clear that he did not quite qualify for the final spot on one of the 100-ballot lists because, at 39 years old, he was not yet on the ballot for the first time.
After winning the award for a record sixth time, Ronaldo thanked his three other finalists, all of whom had done so for the first time: Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo, and Lionel Messi.
The Brazilian went on to tell an interviewer on Wednesday why he should be in the conversation with other candidates he knows he is not, particularly because of the fact that he was the very first Portuguese player to win the award while at Manchester United.
“I have a special friendship with these three players. I have a special friendship with Cristiano Ronaldo, who has helped me a lot during the years. I have a special friendship with Messi because he’s also a player who I have a special friendship with. They’ve helped me a lot. I thank them for the honor,” he told Sky Sports News where he had just returned from a Champions League game against CSKA Sofia.
“We’ve been friends for many years now,” he said, adding: “I’ve always had a special relationship with them and they’ve always been very good to me. I have a very good relationship with Messi. My friendship with him goes back more than 20 years now and when it became clear that I wasn’t going to go to the World Cup, he started a very good friendship with me.”
The Ballon d’Or, of course, is just one of the many accolades Ronaldo has been awarded over the years