Mehdi Benatia has revealed that Cristiano Ronaldo took his 2018 Ballon d’Or defeat to Luka Modric badly, recalling that the forward ‘was hurt’ after it was announced.
Benatia, the former Juventus defender, played alongside Cristiano Ronaldo during their time together in Turin. They were teammates for only six months, but Benatia was in the dressing room at the time when the award was handed to Modric.
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Speaking on Les Affranchis Talk alongside Samir Nasri, he opened up on how Cristiano Ronaldo felt about Modric beating him for the prize.
“I remember the year he arrives at Juventus, he doesn’t get it; it’s Modric who gets it.”
Cristiano Ronaldo had won the previous two editions of the Ballon d’Or and had just lifted a third successive Champions League with Real Madrid. He had also finished that campaign as the competition’s top scorer with 15 goals before completing his move to Juventus in the summer of 2018.
Modric, his former teammate at the Santiago Bernabeu, had captained Croatia to a first World Cup final and won the Golden Ball in the tournament. The midfielder secured 753 points, which was significantly higher than Ronaldo, who finished second with 476. Antoine Griezmann (414), Kylian Mbappé (347) and Lionel Messi (280) completed the top five.
Benatia revealed how Cristiano Ronaldo was ‘hurt’ by Modric’s win since the Portugal superstar was ‘dying’ to win the Ballon d’Or.
“He was hurt! he was hurt! He’s a guy who was dying for the Ballon d’Or!
“He had a huge season; they had won the Champions League. In the end, he goes to Juve, and he sees that it’s Modric who gets it. He wasn’t ok! He wasn’t ok!”
Ronaldo never won the award again after his back-to-back wins in 2016 and 2017.
A closer look at Cristiano Ronaldo’s five Ballon d’Or wins
The first time Ronaldo won the Ballon d’Or was back in 2008 at Manchester United, after a season of 42 goals that delivered the Premier League and the Champions League.
The other four came at Real Madrid, in 2013, 2014, 2016 and 2017, the last of them following another Champions League triumph and a La Liga title.
Modric is still the only player other than Ronaldo and Messi to have won the award between 2008 and 2021. While the Portugal superstar has failed to win the honor since 2017, Lionel Messi won it three times after it, taking his overall tally to a record eight Ballon d’Or wins.
Edited by Nived Zenith
