Zinedine Zidane on Ronaldo: “I’d give him the Ballon d’Or”

Real Madrid boss Zinedine Zidane has insisted that Cristiano Ronaldo deserves to win the Ballon d’Or following the year he’s had.

Despite not firing on all cylinders, like a lot of the Portuguese team, Ronaldo helped his country emerge from Euro 2016 as champions.

He’s always an instrumental figure for Portugal and, although he departed the final early because of a tackle by Dimitri Payet, his presence throughout the competition meant that his country were in contention to defy the odds.

Zidane told Los Blancos’ official website: "I don’t decide who wins it. Cristiano Ronaldo has been playing really well for a long time and he deserves to be amongst the winners. He’s had a spectacular year and there aren’t many players who can achieve what he has. I’d give him the Ballon d’Or."

"I’m lucky to be coaching this team, but Real Madrid has always had good teams. There have been great teams here, amazing teams."

Although Barcelona beat Real to the La Liga title by a point last season, and lifted the Copa del Rey, Ronaldo and his team were crowned Champions League winners. The former Manchester United man scored 28 goals and assisted seven on the road to that final, and only missed two La Liga games.

There’s no doubting that Ronaldo will be in the running to win the Ballon d’Or, but he may just be the favourite to take the spoils, with Lionel Messi’s Argentina and Neymar’s Brazil failing to lift the Copa America.