Cristiano Ronaldo beats Lionel Messi to win his third Ballon d'Or

ZurichPortugal and Real Madrid great Cristiano Ronaldo lifted his third FIFA world footballer of the year award on Monday in an overwhelming win over eternal rival Lionel Messi Barcelonas Argentine magicianThe 29yearold forward who played a key role in Real Madrids charge to a 10th Champions League trophy beat fourtime winner Messi to the Ballon dOr for the second year in a row Germanys World Cup winning goalkeeper Manuel Neuer came third in the voteCristiano Ronaldo poses with his son Cristiano Jr L PicAFPRonaldo was the star of a glittering FIFA awards ceremony in Zurich at which Real Madrid teammate James Rodriguez won the goal of the year award and Germanys Joachim Loew was declared coach of the year I never thought I would win this trophy on three occasions Ronaldo said in his victory speech signalling there would be no letup in his quest for football gloryI want to be one of the greatest players of all time and of course this requires a lot of effort added the striker who won the award for the first time while at Manchester United in 2008 Ronaldo whose son and mother were present burst into tears when he went up to collect the award before praising his teammates and paying homage to his family I would like to thank my mother to my father who is in heaven and who is looking down on me to my family said RonaldoIt has been an unforgettable year and to win a trophy of this importance is unimaginable Incredible moments The Portuguese then took to Twitter to express his joy 2014 was full of incredible moments Thank you all he tweetedRonaldo led Real Madrid to their 10th European Champions League crown their first in 12 years in sensational style in 2014 smashing Messis record of 15 Champions League goals in a single season with 17 in just 11 appearances The only real disappointment for him was that a knee injury contributed to an underwhelming World Cup for the Portugal captain Ronaldo cruised to Ballon dOr victory with 3766 of the votes garnered from the 181 national team coaches 182 national team captains and 181 media representatives who votedMessi finished second with 1576 and Neuer was just adrift of the Argentinian with 1572 His victory was greeted with joy in Portugal with both the president and the prime minister expressing their delight This trophy is recognition of your superb sporting ability of your determination and of your dedication which has been a feature of your footballing career wrote Portugal President Anibal Cavaco Silva on the presidential website Portugal coach Fernando Santos congratulated Ronaldo but added he would like to play a role in filling out the superstars medalfilled cabinetCristiano has already said that what is missing from his brilliant career is to win something with the national team said Santos who took over from Paulo Bento after Portugal lost 10 to Albania in their opening Euro 2016 qualifier We will do all we can to make this happen Icing on the cake Loew who moved up from assistant coach to the top job after the 2006 World Cup which Germany hosted said that his award rounded off a sensational year It is for me a huge honour it is the icing on the cake and the cake was winning the World Cup said Loew adding Winning the World Cup was the consequence of many years hard work and lots of right decisionsLoew won the award with 3623 of all votes Real Madrids Italian coach Carlo Ancelotti was second with 2206 and Atletico Madrids Diego Simeone third 1902 after an extraordinary season in which the Argentine led Atletico to the Spanish title ahead of Real and Barca and also to the Champions League finalRodriguezs sublime volley for Colombia against Uruguay in their last 16 match at the World Cup was a worthy winner for goal of the year voted on by the public The 23yearold who was outstanding as Colombia reached the quarterfinals only to lose to Brazil came out ahead of Robin van Persies header at full stretch against Spain in the World Cup final group game against Spain and surprise finalist Stephanie Roche of IrelandRodriguez who earned a bigmoney move to Real Madrid on the back of his performances at the World Cup said It is a very special goal for me and for all of Colombia These are words of happiness and gratitude