Ronaldinho ‘wins’ Ballon d’Or Wednesday 16 November, 2005
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Barcelona sensation Ronaldinho has won the European Footballer of the Year award, according to reports in Spain.
The news was leaked by Spanish daily El Mundo Deportivo yesterday, adding further weight to rumours that had been circulating to that effect for some days.
The Barca striker, who helped the Catalan giants to the Spanish championship last season, has been exceptional since joining the side for £18m in 2003 and was always strongly-fancied to win the Golden Ball.
Chelsea’s Frank Lampard is reputed to have come second for helping Chelsea to their first League title in 50 years, while Steven Gerrard – who was also voted Champions League Man of the Year – is said to have won third-place recognition for leading Liverpool to European glory last season.
If the speculation surrounding Ronaldinho’s latest video - in which the skilful forward deliberately hits the crossbar four times in a row - suggest that the video is false, it would seem that rumours linking him with the ultimate European accolade are not.
All will become clearer on November 28 when the award ceremony takes place in Paris, despite efforts by France Football to throw a smokescreen in their wake by inviting Lampard to an interview for next month’s edition.
Ronaldinho now joins the glittering pantheon of previous winners including Johan Cruyff, Hristo Stoichkov, Ronaldo, Rivaldo, Luis Figo, Roberto Baggio and last year’s top dog, Andriy Shevchenko.