Ballon d'Or 2021: How can Manchester United's Cristiano Ronaldo win this year?

The Ballon dOr 2021 will see some of the top footballers battle it out to lay their hands on the prestigious award, and the modern-day greats of the game- Cristiano Ronaldo and his fierce rival Lionel Messi are expected to be the frontrunners to win this award once again. As of now, no official announcement has been regarding the awards ceremony. Messi has won the Ballon dOr on six occasions, and Ronaldo takes a close second place with five awards to his name. Meanwhile, let's find out how the Portugal captain can win this accolade for the sixth time and tie with his Argentine counterpart.

Cristiano Ronaldo made a blockbuster return to Manchester United, i.e. 12 years after leaving Old Trafford for Real Madrid in 2009. He has now scored five goals for the 'Red Devils' ever since his second coming. While 'CR7' was benched during Man Utd's Premier League clash against Everton on Saturday, he would be looking to make amends in all the games that he would get to feature in going forward. Nonetheless, according to a football pundit, the 2016 UEFA Euro Cup winner would need to guide Manchester United to a major title if he is to be in contention for this year's Ballon d'Or.

"But from Ronaldo and Messi, I think Ronaldo would need to win either the Premier League or the Champions League to have a chance and he would need to be the main man, as he was at Real Madrid", said Get French Football News journalist Adam White as quoted by GIVEMESPORT.

Ballon dOr 2019

The Ballon dOr 2019 awards were held at Théâtre du Châtelet, Paris on December 2, 2019, where Lionel Messi was adjudged the winner of the prestigious award for a record sixth time in his career. The award ceremony was scrapped off in 2020 due to the global pandemic. At the same time, there is a possibility of the personal accolade moving away from the Southern European nation for the first time since 'CR7' won the award in 2008 while representing Manchester United as both Ronaldo and Messi are no longer playing in Spain. While Ronaldo is back to the 'Theatre of Dreams', Leo is currently associated with the French club Paris Saint-Germain (PSG). However, this would only be possible if either one of them manages to win the Ballon dOr 2021.

Image: AP